Bppletons'  1bome  IReabino 

EDITED    BY 
WILLIAM  T.    HARRIS,    A.M.,   LL.  D. 

UNITED  STATES  COMMISSIONER  OF  EDUCATION 


DIVISION    I 

NATURAL  HISTORY 


or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

or 


Driving  away  the  birds. 


APPLETONS'   HOME  READING  BOOKS 


THE 


STORY  T°HFE  BIRDS 


BY 


JAMES  NEWTON   BASKET!,   M.  A. 

ASSOCIATE    MEMBER    OF    THE    AMERICAN    ORNITHOLOGISTS'    UNION 


NEW   YORK 
D.   APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

1897 


GENERAL 


COPYRIGHT,  1896, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


TO  HIS  TWO   BOYS  ESPECIALLY, 

WHO   HAVE   HELPED   HIM   IN   OBSERVING   AND   HAVE 
STIMULATED   HIM   IN   STUDY, 

AND  TO  THE 
YOUNGER  STUDENTS  OF   THE  NATION  GENERALLY, 

THIS  LITTLE  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED  BY  THE  AUTHOR, 

BECAUSE, 

AS    HERE    AND    THERE    HE    HAS    SPOKEN    TO    THEM    OF    BIRDS, 

HE   HAS    FOUND   IN   THEIR   BRIGHT    FACES   AND   PATIENT   INTEREST 

HIS    GREATEST   INSPIRATION. 


44 


PUBLISHEKS'   NOTE. 


THROUGH  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Frank  M.  Chapman, 
Assistant  Curator  of  the  Department  of  Mammalogy 
and  Ornithology  in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  New  York  city,  the  publishers  have  used  in 
this  volume  several  of  the  admirable  cuts  prepared 
for  his  standard  work,  Handbook  of  Birds  of  East- 
ern North  America.  The  full-page  pictures,  which 
are  credited  in  the  list  of  illustrations,  reproduce 
groups  in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 
These  pictures,  like  some  of  the  line  drawings  in  the 
text,  were  made  under  Mr.  Chapman's  personal  super- 
vision, and  the  publishers  desire  to  make  special  ac- 
knowledgment to  Mr.  Chapman  for  their  use  in  this 
volume. 

vi 


ESTTKODUCTION  TO  THE  HOME  EEADING 
BOOK   SEEIES   BY  THE  EDITOR 


THE  new  education  takes  two  important  direc- 
tions— one  of  these  is  toward  original  observation, 
requiring  the  pupil  to  test  and  verify  what  is  taught 
him  at  school  by  his  own  experiments.  The  infor- 
mation that  he  learns  from  books  or  hears  from  his 
teacher's  lips  must  be  assimilated  by  incorporating  it 
with  his  own  experience. 

The  other  direction  pointed  out  by  the  new  edu- 
cation is  systematic  home  reading.  It  forms  a  part. of 
school  extension  of  all  kinds.  The  so-called  "  Univer- 
sity Extension  "  that  originated  at  Cambridge  and  Ox- 
ford has  as  its  chief  feature  the  aid  of  home  reading  by 
lectures  and  round-table  discussions,  led  or  conducted 
by  experts  who  also  lay  out  the  course  of  reading. 
The  Chautauquan  movement  in  this  country  prescribes 
a  series  of  excellent  books  and  furnishes  for  a  goodly 
number  of  its  readers  annual  courses  of  lectures.  The 
teachers'  reading  circles  that  exist  in  many  States  pre- 
scribe the  books  to  be  read,  and  publish  some  analysis, 
commentary,  or  catechism  to  aid  the  members. 

Home  reading,  it  seems,  furnishes  the  essential 
basis  of  this  great  movement  to  extend  education 


viii  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

beyond  the  school  and  to  make  self -culture  a  habit 
of  life. 

Looking  more  carefully  at  the  difference  between 
the  two  directions  of  the  new  education  we  can  see 
what  each  accomplishes.  There  is  first  an  effort  to 
train  the  original  powers  of  the  individual  and  make 
him  self -active,  quick  at  observation,  and  free  in  his 
thinking.  Next,  the  new  education  endeavors,  by  the 
reading  of  books  and  the  study  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
race,  to  make  the  child  or  youth  a  participator  in  the 
results  of  experience  of  all  mankind. 

These  two  movements  may  be  made  antagonistic 
by  poor  teaching.  The  book  knowledge,  containing  as 
it  does  the  precious  lesson  of  human  experience,  may 
be  so  taught  as  to  bring  with  it  only  dead  rules  of 
conduct,  only  dead  scraps  of  information,  and  no 
stimulant  to  original  thinking.  Its  contents  may  be 
memorized  without  being  understood.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  self -activity  of  the  child  may  be  stimulated 
at  the  expense  of  his  social  well-being — his  originality 
may  be  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  his  rationality. 
If  he  is  taught  persistently  to  have  his  own  way,  to 
trust  only  his  own  senses,  to  cling  to  his  own  opinions 
heedless  of  the  experience  of  his  fellows,  he  is  pre- 
paring for  an  unsuccessful,  misanthropic  career,  and 
is  likely  enough  to  end  his  life  in  a  madhouse. 

It  is  admitted  that  a  too  exclusive  study  of  the 
knowledge  found  in  books,  the  knowledge  which  is 
aggregated  from  the  experience  and  thought  of  other 
people,  may  result  in  loading  the  mind  of  the  pupil 
with  material  which  he  can  not  use  to  advantage. 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  ix 

Some  minds  are  so  full  of  lumber  that  there  is  no 
space  left  to  set  up  a  workshop.  The  necessity  of 
uniting  both  of  these  directions  of  intellectual  activity 
in  the  schools  is  therefore  obvious,  but  we  must  not, 
in  this  place,  fall  into  the  error  of  supposing  that  it  is 
the  oral  instruction  in  school  and  the  personal  influ- 
ence of  the  teacher  alone  that  Excites  the  pupil  to  ac- 
tivity. Book  instruction  is  not  always  dry  and  theo- 
retical. The  very  persons  who  declaim  against  the 
book,  and  praise  in  such  strong  terms  the  self -activity 
of  the  pupil  and  original  research,  are  mostly  persons 
who  have  received  their  practical  impulse  from  read- 
ing the  writings  of  educational  reformers.  Very  few 
persons  have  received  an  impulse  from  personal  con- 
tact with  inspiring  teachers  compared  with  the  num- 
ber that  have  received  an  impulse  from  such  books  as 
Herbert  Spencer's  Treatise  on  Education,  Kousseau's 
Emile,  Pestalozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude,  Francis 
W.  Parker's  Talks  about  Teaching,  G.  Stanley 
Hall's  Pedagogical  Seminary.  Think  in  this  connec- 
tion, too,  of  the  impulse  to  observation  in  natural  sci- 
ence produced  by  such  books  as  those  of  Hugh  Miller, 
Faraday,  Tyndall,  Huxley,  Agassiz,  and  Darwin. 

The  new  scientific  book  is  different  from  the  old. 
The  old  style  book  of  science  gave  dead  results  where 
the  new  one  gives  not  only  the  results,  but  a  minute 
account  of  the  method  employed  in  reaching  those  re- 
sults. An  insight  into  the  method  employed  in  dis- 
covery trains  the  reader  into  a  naturalist,  an  historian, 
a  sociologist.  The  books  of  the  writers  above  named 
have  done  more  to  stimulate  original  research  on  the 


x  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

part  of  their  readers  than  all  other  influences  com- 
bined. 

It  is  therefore  much  more  a  matter  of  importance 
to  get  the  right  kind  of  book  than  to  get  a  living 
teacher.  The  book  which  teaches  results,  and  at  the 
same  time  gives  in  an  intelligible  manner  the  steps  of 
discovery  and  the  methods  employed,  is  a  book 
which  will  stimulate  the  student  to  repeat  the  ex- 
periments described  and  get  beyond  these  into  fields 
of  original  research  himself.  Every  one  remem- 
bers the  published  lectures  of  Faraday  on  chemistry, 
which  exercised  a  wide  influence  in  changing  the  style 
of  books  on  natural  science,  causing  them  to  deal 
with  method  more  than  results,  and  thus  to  train 
the  reader's  power  of  conducting  original  research. 
Eobinson  Crusoe  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  has 
stimulated  adventure  and  prompted  young  men  to 
resort  to  the  border  lands  of  civilization.  A  library 
of  home  reading  should  contain  books  that  stimulate 
to  self -activity  and  arouse  the  spirit  of  inquiry.  The 
books  should  treat  of  methods  of  discovery  and  evo- 
lution. All  nature  is  unified  by  the  discovery  of 
the  law  of  evolution.  Each  and  every  being  in  the 
world  is  now  explained  by  the  process  of  development 
to  which  it  belongs.  Every  fact  now  throws  light  on 
all  the  others  by  illustrating  the  process  of  growth  in 
which  each  has  its  end  and  aim. 

The  Home  Reading  Books  are  to  be  classed  as 
follows : 

First  Division.  Natural  history,  including  popular 
scientific  treatises  on  plants  and  animals,  and  also  de- 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xi 

scriptions  of  geographical  localities.  The  branch  of 
study  in  the  district  school  course  which  corresponds 
to  this  is  geography.  Travels  and  sojourns  in  distant 
lands ;  special  writings  which  treat  of  this  or  that 
animal  or  plant,  or  family  of  animals  or  plants ;  any- 
thing that  relates  to  organic  nature  or  to  meteorol- 
ogy, or  descriptive  astronomy  may  be  placed  in  this 
class. 

Second  Division.  Whatever  relates  to  physics  or 
natural  philosophy,  to  the  statics  or  dynamics  of  air  or 
water  or  light  or  electricity,  or  to  the  properties  of 
matter ;  whatever  relates  to  chemistry,  either  organic 
or  inorganic — books  on  these  subjects  belong  to  the 
class  that  relates  to  what  is  inorganic.  Even  the  so- 
called  organic  chemistry  relates  to  the  analysis  of 
organic  bodies  into  their  inorganic  compounds. 

Third  Division.  History  and  biography  and  eth- 
nology. Books  relating  to  the  lives  of  individuals,  and 
especially  to  the  social  life  of  the  nation,  and  to  the 
collisions  of  nations  in  war,  as  well  as  to  the  aid  that 
one  gives  to  another  through  commerce  in  times  of 
peace ;  books  on  ethnology  relating  to  the  manners 
and  customs  of  savage  or  civilized  peoples ;  books  on 
the  primitive  manners  and  customs  which  belong  to 
the  earliest  human  beings — books  on  these  subjects  be- 
long to  the  third  class,  relating  particularly  to  the  hu- 
man will,  not  merely  the  individual  will  but  the  social 
will,  the  will  of  the  tribe  or  nation ;  and  to  this  third 
class  belong  also  books  on  ethics  and  morals,  and  on 
forms  of  government  and  laws,  and  what  is  included 
under  the  term  civics  or  the  duties  of  citizenship. 


xii  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

Fourth  Division.  The  fourth  class  of  books  in- 
cludes more  especially  literature  and  works  that  make 
known  the  beautiful  in  such  departments  as  sculpture, 
painting,  architecture  and  music.  Literature  and  art 
show  human  nature  in  the  form  of  feelings,  emotions, 
and  aspirations,  and  they  show  how  these  feelings 
lead  over  to  deeds  and  to  clear  thoughts.  This  de- 
partment of  books  is  perhaps  more  important  than 
any  other  in  our  home  reading,  inasmuch  as  it  teaches 
a  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  enables  us  to  un- 
derstand the  motives  that  lead  our  fellow-men  to 
action. 

To  each  book  is  added  an  analysis  in  order  to  aid 
the  reader  in  separating  the  essential  points  from  the 
unessential,  and  give  each  its  proper  share  of  atten- 
tion. 

W.  T.  HABBIS. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  November.  16,  1896. 


PEEFACE. 


WANT  of  space  precludes,  either  in  the  text  or 
preface  of  this  little  work,  the  proper  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  specific  sources  from  which  many  of  the 
facts  and  conclusions  have  been  drawn.  The  obliga- 
tions are  confessed,  however,  and  the  result  is  just  the 
author's  presentation  of  bits  of  his  own  experience 
and  deduction,  along  with  much  that  is  well  known 
to  all  modern  ornithologists. 

The  little  book,  therefore,  has  its  limitations,  and 
does  not  pretend  to  tell  the  whole  story  of  the  birds, 
even  if  could  be  told.  Its  aim  is  simply  to  present  in 
a  rather  unusual  yet  popular  way  the  more  striking 
scientific  features  of  their  probable  development. 

From  this  standpoint  the  predominance  of  the 
anthropomorphic  element  in  the  discussions  may  be 
criticised,  but  the  author  is  assured  from  his  experi- 
ence as  a  lecturer  before  the  students  of  all  grades 
from  grammar  schools  to  universities,  and  even  before 
popular  audiences,  that  this  is  the  best  form  for  pro- 
voking interest. 

If  it  be  thought  that  too  much  effort  has  been  ex- 
pended in  trying  to  account  for  so  many  facts,  it  may 


xiv  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

be  replied  that  a  phenomenon  to-day  is  of  little  use, 
or  at  least  has  little  significance,  till  it  is  classified  or 
placed  under  some  theory  or  hypothesis.  If  the  hy- 
potheses advanced  here  should  not  always  meet  the 
critic's  approval,  or  seem  not  always  to  be  wholly  jus- 
tified from  every  point  of  view,  they  are  still  better 
than  no  setting  whatever.  There  is  more  stimulation 
to  thought,  more  assistance  to  memory,  more  rousing 
of  attention  in  an  imperfect  or  even  an  incorrect  hy- 
pothesis than  in  none  at  all. 

In  interesting  rather  than  instructing,  in  guiding 
the  observation  of  the  inexperienced  into  proper 
channels,  in  suggesting  slightly  to  the  student  what 
to  look  for  among  the  birds,  and  what  to  do  with  a 
fact  when  found,  the  author  hopes  that  this  little 
volume  may  find  a  mission. 

J.  K  B. 

MEXICO,  Mo.,  September,  1896. 


ANALYSIS   OF 
THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

WITH  STUDY  HINTS. 


THE  following1  brief  analysis  of  the  chapters  is  made 
with  the  hope  of  better  enabling  the  reader  to  recall  or 
review  the  essential  facts  and  principles  mentioned. 

The  suggestions  for  study  are  intended  only  as  stimuli 
in  the  observation  of  such  simple  examples  as  may  fall  in 
the  average  reader's  way  without  special  excursions, 
slaughter,  and  dissections. 

CHAPTER  I. — The  early  ancestry  of  the  birds  lies  in  the  primi- 
tive vertebrates,  but  within  the  reptiles  and  lizards,  shown  chiefly 
through  skeleton  and  methods  of  multiplication  ;  the  large  egg 
not  found  elsewhere.  A  bird  is  characterized  by  wearing 
feathers. 

Suggestions  for  Study. — Read  in  encyclopaedias  about  Dino- 
saurs, Pterodactyls,  and  the  Archceopteryx.  Consult  any  work  on 
zoology  for  characteristics  of  the  five  groups  of  vertebrates. 

CHAPTER  II.— How  birds  first  flew.  First  use  of  feathers 
and  tail. 

For  Study. — Examine  a  bat's  wing,  and  compare  with  Ptero- 
dactyl ;  note  how  insects  fly ;  parachutes  of  the  flying  rodents, 
lemurs,  etc.  Observe  action  of  a  bird's  tail  in  alighting  or  sud- 
denly rising. 

CHAPTER  III. — Use  of  wings  in  climbing.  Claws  on  modern 
birds  noted.  Skeleton  and  muscles  of  fore  leg  much  modified  in 
wing.  Wings  did  not  grow  out  as  wings.  Birds  may  have  walked 
1  xv 


xvi  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

before  flying,  perhaps  crawled.  Had  birds  more  than  one  origin 
among  the  reptiles  ? 

For  Study. — Examine  the  skeleton  of  the  wing  of  table  fowl 
in  connection  with  figure  on  page  13.  Notice  the  separation  and 
superposition  of  the  breast  muscles  of  a  cooked  bird.  Dissect  an 
English  sparrow  for  further  study. 

CHAPTER  IV. — Plumage  was  acquired  by  birds  for  warmth, 
not  lightness ;  quickly  modified  for  flight.  Skin  pores  suppressed 
to  preserve  heat  also.  Hollow  bones  and  various  air  spaces  used 
as  reservoirs  of  air  on  account  of  scant  lungs. 

For  Study. — Note  heavy  downs  on  a  duck's  body,  and  the 
hook  vanes  on  its  flight  quills.  Observe  the  hollow,  marrowless 
bones  of  table  fowls.  Cut  windpipe  of  dead  bird,  insert  tube  and 
blow,  noting  inflation  of  body. 

CHAPTER  V. — Plumage  grows  in  symmetrical  tracts  with  bare 
spaces  between.  Diagnostic  value  of  this  arrangement.  Did 
plumage  originate  in  patches?  The  pattern  much  subject  to 
environment  and  habit  and  much  modified  since  the  beginning. 

For  Study. — Examine  picked  poultry  in  market  and  note  the 
clustering  of  the  papillce.  Look  at  any  nestling  of  song  bird 
(canary  or  sparrow)  and,  if  possible,  a  woodpecker  or  chimney 
swift. 

CHAPTER  VI. — Downs  are  of  two  kinds — nestling  and  adult. 
The  first  grow  in  the  pockets  (papillce)  of  the  latter  and  of  the 
large  feathers,  and  are  pushed  out.  Downs  may  be  degenerate 
feathers;  often  ornamental;  sometimes  powdery  in  tracts. 
Downs  not  usually  present  in  bare  tracts  except  in  aquatic  birds. 
Aftershafts  formerly  prevailed  more  generally.  Moas  had  strictly 
double-stemmed  feathers.  Downs  developed  as  needed.  All 
nestlings  of  early  birds  hatched  downy.  Naked  nestling  a  later 
development  (see  Chapter  XX). 

For  Study. — Note  difference  in  downs  and  their  arrangement 
in  ducks  and  chickens,  and  the  nakedness  of  any  little  bird's 
nestling.  See  the  aftershaft  on  some  of  the  body  feathers  of 
common  hen.  Examine  some  down  under  a  magnifier. 

CHAPTER  VII. — The  plumage  is  a  product  of  the  skin  purely 
originating  beneath  the  epidermis.  Scales  were  changed  to 
feathers.  Barrel  of  feathers  evidently  once  flat.  The  necessities 
of  flight  doubtless  made  them  tubular  and  caused  the  vanes  to 


ANALYSIS   OF   THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS.  Xvii 

become  hooked  together  and  air-resisting.  Solid  vanes  also  pro- 
tecting to  body.  Plumage  modified  much  in  Nature  in  keeping 
with  the  bird's  comfort,  safety,  and  beauty. 

For  Study. — Examine  any  ordinary  wing  or  tail  feather. 
Note  the  infolding  of  edges  of  shaft ;  run  a  fine  wire  or  bristle 
along  the  groove  into  the  barrel.  Observe  that  the  end  is  closed 
by  a  membrane.  See  the  tendency  to  flossiness  near  the  body. 
Note  ornamental  degeneration  of  other  feathers,  as  cocks'  tail 
feathers,  peacock  and  lyre-bird  plumes,  and  ostrich  tips. 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Molt  occurs  with  all  birds  in  the  fall.  Some 
have  various  molts,  according  to  needs.  Molt  necessary  for  re- 
pair and  change  of  ornament  and  color ;  affected  strongly  by 
environment;  now  probably  a  much  hurried-up  process.  Old 
feather  usually  falls  out  now,  but  perhaps  was  formerly  pushed 
out.  New  colors  are  also  produced  by  wearing  away  or  shedding 
the  feather's  tips. 

For  Study. — Note  molt  of  young  chicken.  See  dead  center  or 
"  pith  "  of  cast-off  feather.  Note  in  English  sparrow  the  differ- 
ence in  color  of  the  plumage  beneath  and  on  the  surface.  Ob- 
serve the  young  males'  acquisition  of  black  throat  patch,  etc. 
Observe  nestling  down  on  tips  of  large  feathers  of  a  fully  fledged 
young  bird  yet  in  nest. 

CHAPTER  IX. — Ornament  may  be  incidental,  but  usually  has 
purpose ;  may  prevail  anywhere  on  the  body  or  extremities ;  is 
often  displayed  and  appreciated  ;  may  be  a  matter  of  shape,  but 
usually  of  color,  or  both  combined.  Brilliancy  a  special  feature 
of  the  birds ;  rarely  lost  or  subdued,  but  intensified  by  progress. 
Both  form  and  color  ornamentation  may  at  times  harmonize  well 
with  surroundings  and  become  protection. 

Origin  of  choice  discussed.  Ornament  may  be  only  a  sign  of 
vigor  or  conjugal  capacity.  Instances  of  appreciation.  Males 
usually  have  more  ornament.  Some  females  pretty  and  males 
plain.  Relations  between  ornament  and  style  of  nest  and  nest- 
ing. Color  of  female  more  nearly  the  primitive  color  of  species. 

For  Study. — Note  wattles,  hackles,  and  tail  plumes  of  roosters, 
"speculum  "  on  wing  of  drakes,  etc.  See  the  duskiness  of  female 
cardinal,  indigo  bird,  bluebird,  rose-breasted  grosbeak,  etc. 

CHAPTER  X. — Signal  or  recognition  colors  prevail  largely 
among  birds.  Nature's  care  about  the  race  makes  altruism  auto- 


xviii  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

matic.  Color  calls  usually  white  and  mostly  visible  from  the 
rear ;  often  concealed  except  in  flight,  depending  on  motion  for 
display ;  often  ornamental.  Doubtless  brilliant  colors  and  orna- 
ments may  answer  the  same  purpose.  Whirring  flight,  wing 
strokes,  and  vocal  cries  as  substitutes.  Brotherly  affection  among 
birds. 

For  Study. — Note  white  wing  bars  of  English  sparrows,  jays, 
etc.,  and  the  whirring  flight  of  many  flocking  birds.  Observe  the 
little  by-talks  of  small  chickens  as  they  run  and  feed. 

CHAPTER  XI. — The  weapons  of  the  primitive  birds  were  pre- 
eminently their  teeth,  which  were  lost,  perhaps,  because  of  changed 
habits  induced  by  flight.  Early  weapons  useful  more  especially 
in  prey  taking.  Special  weapons  were  developed  in  fighting  ri- 
vals. Wing  spur  the  earliest  of  these,  perhaps;  leg  spur  later, 
and  confined  mostly  to  one  group.  Birds'  weapons  not  orna- 
mented, but  probably  have  given  way  to  other  forms  of  emula- 
tion, as  song,  antics,  etc.  Battle  is  often  mere  bluff,  chasing^ 
inflation,  etc.  Birds  have  no  shields.  Weapons  a  means  of  ad- 
vancing the  race. 

For  Study. — Note  armament  of  chickens,  turkeys,  and  various 
birds  of  prey.  Compare  pictures  of  the  sheep  and  antelopes,  and 
see  the  curved  and  lyrated  forms  full  of  the  curves  of  beauty. 

Note. — There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  poison  beak  or  gland 
among  the  birds,  newspaper  paragraphs  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 

CHAPTER  XII. — The  play  of  birds  sometimes  seems  humorous 
purely,  but  it  usually  has  the  purpose  of  charming  or  displaying 
pretty  parts.  Instances  noted.  Females  often  play  back,  not  al- 
ways. Some  antics  take  the  form  of  ecstasies. 

Odor  has  no  special  glands  among  birds  as  among  mammals 
and  reptiles,  with  one  exception;  but  odors  are  evidently  quite 
distinctive,  and  doubtless  have  purpose  in  them  in  some  cases. 
Some  birds  smell  keenly,  but  vultures  hunt  largely  by  sight. 
Mud  probers  use  smell  in  searching,  but  some  other  forms  have 
no  nostrils. 

For  Study. — Note  little  chickens'  mock  fights,  crows  tumbling 
in  flight,  turkeys  strutting,  pigeons  pouting,  house  sparrows  whir- 
ling, etc.  Note  incidental  odors  of  fish  eaters.  Put  the  hand  in 
a  laying  Guinea-hen's  nest  and  see  if  she  abandons  it. 


ANALYSIS   OF  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS.    xix 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Song  primarily  a  call  or  cry,  but  now  a 
charming  factor.  It  is  the  latest  acquisition,  the  song  bird  hav- 
ing a  special  throat  for  it.  Song  still  has  rivalry  in  it.  Various 
tones  for  various  emotions  in  many  birds.  Song  as  a  calling  or 
advertising,  as  a  serenading,  a  cheering,  a  rejoicing,  a  warning,  a 
threatening,  an  exasperating,  and  a  subduing  factor. 

For  Study. — Note  the  spring  songs  and  incubating  songs  of 
birds;  also  their  revival  at  the  second  nesting  period  and  their 
absence  usually  in  late  summer.  Note  answering  crow  of  cocks, 
gobble  of  turkeys,  coo  of  doves,  whistle  of  quails,  etc. 

CHAPTER  XIV. — The  mating  time  of  our  middle-latitude  birds 
extends  from  January  to  July.  Pairing  of  resident  birds  often  a 
matter  of  association.  Perhaps  many  migrants  stay  from  year  to 
year  paired,  and,  though  separated  in  migration,  return  to  same 
spot.  There  is  always  a  charming  procedure,  however,  each  year, 
which  may  be  short  or  long. 

Polygamy  largely  prevails  among  the  low  birds.  Males  of 
higher  birds  very  devoted  to  mate  in  brooding  season.  Some 
similar  instances  among  low  birds,  but  many  males  of  these  de- 
sert their  families.  Birds  of  prey  long  noted  as  pairing  for  life. 

For  Study. — Note  early  "  hooting  "  of  owls.  Note  thistle  bird 
or  goldfinch  in  flocks  late  in  June.  Watch  birds  of  orchard  and 
yard  for  love  antics,  especially  jays,  blackbirds,  and  flickers. 

CHAPTER  XV. — Lost  mate  is  soon  replaced  by  either  sex. 
Doubtless  many  unmated  birds  extant.  Experiments  noted. 
The  widowed  call.  Darwin's  note  of  incompatibility  of  temper. 
Polygamous  tendencies  in  high  birds.  Results  of  environment 
and  opportunity  on  all  this. 

For  Study. — Among  English  sparrows  if  either  parent  be 
killed  the  other  soon  finds  a  helper.  Even  if  both  are  destroyed 
others  will  feed  the  crying  young,  or  birds  of  a  different  species 
will  sometimes  care  for  each  other's  orphan  nestlings.  Is  the 
acquisition  of  a  new  partner  as  much  parental  as  conjugal  ? 

CHAPTER  XVI. — Incubation  found  among  a  few  reptiles  only. 
It  is  probably  an  acquired  habit  in  birds,  the  lowest  showing 
least  of  it.  Perhaps  began  in  the  time  necessary  to  the  act  of 
depositing  eggs  subsequent  to  the  first.  Earliest  birds  may  have 
covered  eggs  with  sand  or  hotbed  stuif  as  reptiles  and  mega- 
podes  do  yet.  Change  of  place  and  climate  may  have  necessitated 


Xx  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

incubation.  Style  of  nest  likely  also  a  factor  of  the  amount 
needed. 

For  Study. — Note  the  duration  of  incubation  of  various  do- 
mestic and  wild  birds  near.  Observe  the  relations  between  size 
of  parent,  of  egg,  of  nestling,  and  of  time  incubated ;  also  rela- 
tion of  style  of  nest  to  number  of  young  and  the  time  they  stay 
in  nest.  Observe  also  duration  of  laying  period  and  time  used 
in  depositing  each  egg.  Report  to  some  ornithological  journal. 

CHAPTER  XVII.— The  style  of  a  nest  affected  both  by  in- 
herited tendencies  and  present  surroundings.  Centers  of  origin 
thus  hinted.  Different  building  seasons  (early  or  late)  affect  the 
structure.  No  fossil  nest,  no  embryology  of  nesting,  but  present 
elements  hint  past  development.  Platform,  cup,  and  lining  likely 
represent  three  different  stages  of  progress.  The  "  natural-selec- 
tion "  element  of  structure  and  location  mentioned.  The  lining 
the  most  recent  and  constant  feature.  Intricate  nests  made  for 
comfort  of  nestling  or  sitting  parent.  Tree  building  a  great 
nest-developing  element.  Nests  often  ornamented  or  at  least 
concealed  by  mimicry  of  surroundings  in  form  and  color  ;  shaped 
also  by  color  of  sitter. 

For  Study. — Note  that  nests  of  hens,  geese,  turkeys,  etc.,  are 
mere  hollows,  showing  little  structure.  Note  just  above  them 
pigeons  moving  the  material,  but  making  poor  nest.  Separate 
platform,  cup,  and  lining  of  old  robin's  nest.  Note  chipping 
sparrow's  tendency  to  emphasize  the  lining  and  omit  the  plat- 
form. Note  frequent  simple  cups  (not  purses)  of  Baltimore 
oriole.  Make  notes  of  variations  in  all  nests  examined. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. — A  few  birds  seem  quite  fastidious  about 
nesting  material  and  location.  The  sham  nests  of  wrens  and 
gallinules  mentioned  and  purpose  discussed.  The  trades  of 
birds.  Old  nests  not  usually  used  a  second  time  except  in  holes, 
etc.  Frequent  theft  of  each  other's  material  and  nesting  sites. 
Nest  repairing  by  owls,  eagles,  and  ospreys. 

For  Study. — Watch  blackbirds  and  any  old  nests  that  are  in 
the  yard.  Nail  up  gourds,  cans,  and  boxes  anywhere  that  they 
can  be  observed,  with  holes  too  small  for  sparrows,  and  thus  at- 
tract house  wrens,  tits,  and  chickadees  for  study. 

CHAPTER  XIX. — All  colors  and  markings  of  birds'  eggs  once 
likely  had  purpose  in  them.  Earliest  birds'  eggs  probably  pure 


ANALYSIS   OF   THE   STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS.     Xxi 

white,  as  are  reptiles.  Harmony  with  the  place  of  deposit  (after 
nests  became  open)  the  origin  of  color  and  spottings.  Primitive 
hole  builders  all  had  white  eggs  likely.  Some  colored  eggs  now 
tend  to  blanching.  Eggs  hint  relationships  slightly  by  color, 
markings,  and  shapes.  Various  modifying  factors  noted  (page 
119). 

For  Study.— Note  ellipsoidal  shape  of  pigeon's  egg,  and  how 
globular  and  smooth  are  those  of  woodpeckers.  In  any  broken 
marked  egg  view  spots  if  possible  from  inside.  Wash  any  colored 
egg  with  weak  acid  (even  a  brownish  hen's  egg)  and  note  how 
superficial  is  the  color.  Note  that  some  hen  eggs  are  spotted 
and  see  the  great  variations,  even  in  same  clutch,  of  the  eggs  of 
the  English  sparrow. 

CHAPTER  XX.— All  primitive  birds  likely  had  precocial  nest- 
lings, the  altricial  being  a  recent  degeneration  brought  about 
likely  by  tree  building.  Other  causes  conjectured.  Some  re- 
marks on  relations  of  size  of  egg  to  parent  and  nestling  and  on 
size  of  yolk  to  "  white."  The  hint  from  dormant  eggs  in  oviduct 
that  birds  once  laid  more  eggs  at  once  than  they  do  now.  Naked- 
ness of  nestling  may  be  the  result  of  hole  building  and  parental 
brooding.  Herons,  hawks,  pigeons,  etc.,  now  in  the  transition 
state,  perhaps. 

For  Study. — Note  the  ease  with  which  the  "  egg  tooth  "  slips 
on  newly  hatched  duck  or  chicken,  and  how  it  is  scarcely  sepa- 
rable on  a  nestling  sparrow  or  pigeon  even.  Note  that  the  pigeon, 
while  naked  and  helpless,  is  much  less  so  than  the  sparrow.  Ob- 
serve how  very  naked  is  a  young  chimney  swift  or  woodpecker. 

CHAPTER  XXL — Precocial  birds  do  not  carry  food  to  or  put  it 
in  the  mouths  of  their  young  generally.  Nature's  provision  for 
the  precocial's  sustenance  till  it  can  eat  well.  Altricials  thrust 
food  upon  their  young.  Regurgitation  practiced  by  many  parents, 
especially  \ow  birds.  Peculiarities  of  hornbills,  pigeons,  and 
flickers.  Parental  devotion  instanced. 

For  Study. — Observe  the  canary  regurgitating  to  her  young 
for  the  first  few  days.  If  a  flicker's  nest  is  near,  after  the  young 
come  to  the  orifice  (in  a  few  days  after  hatching),  note  the  parents' 
pumping  process.  Watch  the  swifts  and  swallows  after  the 
young  are  on  the  wing  and  they  are  circling  around. 

CHAPTER  XXII. — Birds'  food  primitively  was  evidently  largely 


xxii  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

animal,  as  shown  by  their  teeth.  Subsequent  loss  of  teeth  neces- 
sitated gizzard  in  grain  eaters.  Flesh  eaters  now  do  not  need  it. 
Various  feeding  habits  noted.  Peculiarities  of  Apteryx,  snipe, 
and  woodcock's  beak,  rail  form's  feet,  penguin's  wings,  geese 
form's  bill  fringes,  pelican's  sac,  heron's  spear,  and  birds  of  prey's 
talons,  terribly  hooked  upper  mandible,  etc. 

For  Study. — Note  elevated  rear  toe  out  of  the  way  in  the 
scratching  fowls  and  (in  the  market)  the  soft  sensitive  beaks  of 
snipes  and  plovers.  Note  that  birds  with  strongly  decurved 
beaks  are  usually  ground  or  water  feeders. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. — A  bird's  implements  are  related  to  its  habits ; 
instance  the  bill  of  the  Apteryx.  Examples  of  habit  preceding  struc- 
ture and  of  structure  inducing  habit.  Parrots,  cuckoos,  and  wood- 
peckers as  illustrations.  Habits  noted  as  compensating  for  defec- 
tive structure.  Interesting  and  striking  variation  between  swifts 
and  humming  birds.  Various  feeding  habits.  Habit  away  ahead 
of  structure  in  the  water  ousels. 

For  Study. — Note  with  a  glass  the  outspread  outer  rear  toe  of 
woodpecker  on  a  tree  trunk.  Observe  that  a  nuthatch  head  down- 
ward stretches  a  leg  far  back  up  the  tree  as  a  squirrel.  Observe 
nutcrackerlike  bill  of  parrot,  and  crushing  and  cutting  form  of 
cardinal's  bill — an  extreme  example  of  the  seed -eating  finch  forms. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. — Roosting  with  the  breast  on  the  perch  or 
support  is  usual  with  most  birds.  Waders  stand  and  hawk  forms 
never  squat.  Some  midocean  haunters  may  sleep  on  the  wing. 
Some  aquatic  birds  sleep  floating.  Picarian  birds  sleep  in  holes 
often.  Woodpeckers  and  swifts  roost  in  an  upright  position,  usu- 
ally in  cavities.  All  birds  using  a  perch  strain  the  toe  tendons  in 
squatting  till  automatic  clasping  is  effected.  There  are  different 
methods  of  accomplishing  this  in  different  birds. 

Some  parrots  hang  (head  down)  by  one  foot,  some  by  both,  and 
others  hang  by  the  beak. 

For  Study.— Place  the  finger  in  the  grasp  of  any  freshly  slain 
bird  and  bend  the  leg  up  to  the  body.  Note  the  automatic  clasp 
as  the  bird  appears  to  squat.  In  such  birds  as  sleep  with  head 
under  the  wing  note  if  the  right  wing  is  used,  since  this  is  the 
position  in  the  shell  before  hatching. 

CHAPTER  XXV. — Toe  arrangement  and  peculiarities  very  help- 
ful in  diagnosing,  but  do  not  always  indicate  kinship.  Various 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS.  xxiii 

styles  defined.  Swimming  membranes  are,  perhaps,  rather  recent 
developments.  They  are  transient  (or  seasonal)  now  in  some  am- 
phibians. They  speak  confidently  of  habits.  The  bird's  foot  is 
based  on  the  lizard's.  Prestige  of  the  middle  front  (third)  toe  dis- 
cussed. Peculiarity  of  leg  bones — the  fusion  and  stiffening  of 
parts  for  better  running.  Loss  of  rear  toe  and  the  various  tendon 
arrangements  mentioned. 

For  Study. — Notice  feet  of  ducks  and  chickens.  Dissect  out 
tendons  and  note  their  uses.  Observe  that  the  very  tendons  are 
bony  in  the  turkey.  What  does  this  mean  ?  Note  in  the  ostrich 
(at  the  menagerie)  that  for  speed  afoot  purely  almost  no  toes  are 
needed,  and  that  bird's  toes  now  are  preserved  for  clasping  and 
swimming. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. — The  wing,  after  fluttering-up  flight  came,  was 
variously  modified.  Each  new  need  made  a  new  shape.  Ground 
haunters  have  usually  broad,  short,  round,  concave  wings.  Pen- 
guins' wings  not  long  used  as  such,  perhaps.  Long  wings  mean 
long  flight.  Chest  muscles  (quality  and  quantity)  are  compensating 
factors,  however.  Instances  in  ducks  and  plovers.  The  soaring 
wing  noted.  Soaring  largely  a  matter  of  skill.  Flight  by  flap- 
ping largely  a  matter  of  propelling  rather  than  lifting  after  the 
bird  once  starts.  The  number,  shape,  length,  set  of  the  wing 
quills. 

For  Study.— Make  a  collection  of,  and  label  such  wings  as  fall 
in  your  way  without  special  slaughter,  and  note  shape  in  connec- 
tion with  the  bird's  flight  habits.  Observe  difference  between 
those  of  duck  and  hen,  hawk  and  plovers,  sparrow  and  quails. 
Place  no  confidence  in  the  collection  on  the  hats  of  any  feminine 
assembly.  They  are  usually  trimmed  to  suit  the  aesthetics  of  the 
milliner. 

CHAPTER  XXVII.— Birds  have  a  definite  home  region  and  love 
it,  and,  in  the  extreme  north,  are  driven  from  it  by  stress  of  weather 
and  scarcity  of  food.  They  return  to  it  in  the  spring.  View  of 
glacial  theory  of  migration  and  the  probability  that  the  tendency  to 
conceal  nests  and  get  apart  send  southern  birds  north.  Some  mi- 
grate afoot  partly,  but  flight  is  the  great  factor  of  the  seasonal  move- 
ments. Some  migrations  very  direct,  others  straggling,  many  day 
birds  moving  at  night  high  up.  Migration  may  change  social 
habits.  Coast  lines,  rivers,  mountains,  act  as  guiding  factors. 


xxiv  THE   STORY  OF   THE   BIRDS. 

Islands  thronged  and  special  routes  often  adhered  to.  Instinct 
of  direction  discussed.  Leadership  of  old  ones  not  always  present 
to  guide  young.  Birds  often  get  lost.  Curious  instances  of  hunt- 
ers "  crossings  "  and  "  fly  lines." 

For  Study. — Keep  a  record  of  coming  and  going  of  migrants, 
as  noted  from  window  or  walk.  Get  a  correspondent  north  and 
south  of  you  to  warn  you  to  "  look  out."  Learn  the  migrating 
haunts  of  various  birds  in  your  region,  such  as  certain  bushy 
swales,  wood  borders,  etc.  Keep  your  ears  open  at  night  (when 
out)  for  a  migrant's  call. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. — A  bird's  ideas  of  geography,  climatology, 
direction,  etc.,  oft  inherited  from  its  ancestors,  but  much  comes 
by  experience.  The  distribution  of  the  birds  hints  much  of 
geology.  Instance  our  great  plains  and  the  meeting  of  Hudson's 
Bay  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  formerly. 

Birds  seem  to  know  their  proper  nest,  number  of  eggs,  or 
clutch.  Instances  of  vireos  appearing  to  count.  Peculiarity  that 
the  sight  of  the  proper  nest  number  should  suppress  the  forma- 
tion of  other  eggs  in  oviduct.  Laying  not  always  controllable. 
Effects  of  weather,  fright,  etc.,  on  this.  Migrant  sea  bird's  exact 
estimate  of  time. 

For  Study. — Watch  for  cowbird's  egg  and  nests  about  you. 
Destroy  them.  Take  an  egg  away  each  day  from  some  .laying 
bird  and  note  if  she  will  lay  more  than  her  usual  number  to  re- 
place the  loss.  After  one  or  two  eggs  are  laid  fill  out  her  clutch 
with  sparrow  eggs,  and  note  if  she  ceases  to  lay. 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— Losses  have  often  been  large  gains  to  birds. 
Instances  noted  in  feet,  leg,  wing,  teeth,  intestines,  carotids,  pri- 
maries, palate,  etc.  Habits  also  lost  down  to  a  vestige,  which 
hints  former  relationship.  Instances  of  ousels,  grebes,  hoactzins, 
gallinules,  rails,  geese,  etc.  Also  in  nests  and  in  hoarding  of 
bright  things  by  crow  forms. 

For  Study. — Note  in  a  book  any  peculiar  habits  of  a  bird. 
Think  if  this  occurs  in  any  other  akin  to  it.  Are  the  crow  of 
cock  and  croak  of  pigeon  similar — they  are  kindred  groups. 
Note  that  the  brooding  domestic  pigeon  strikes  at  your  hand 
with  her  wing,  and  recall  that  many  pigeons  have  wing  spurs, 
Is  the  rooster's  strut  with  one  wing  a  vestige  or  a  rudiment  of  the 
turkey's  and  peafowl's  and  other  pheasants'  perfection  of  the  art  ? 


ANALYSIS   OF   THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS.  XXV 

Does  the  fact  that  he  snaps  his  wing  over  his  back  before  crow- 
ing imply  that  the  ruffed  grouse  may  do  the  same  in  drumming? 

CHAPTER  XXX.— This  chapter  is  itself  an  analysis. 

For  Study.— If  interested  in  the  kinship  of  the  birds,  read  up, 
if  possible,  from  cyclopaedia  or  other  source  a  bit  about  the  con- 
necting links  (see  "  connecting  links  "  in  index). 

Some  of  those  of  especial  interest  on  the  diagram  are  the 
Apteryx  (or  kiwi),  between  groups  4  and  8,  the  tinaraous  (4-5),  the 
button  quails  (5-9),  the  hoactzin  (7,  between  5  and  8  and  5  and 
26),  jacanas  (8-9),  the  sand  grouse  and  geophaps  (between  5-6 
and  6-9),  the  bustards  and  thick-knees  (8-9),  the  mesites  (10-15  ?), 
trumpeters  (10-5?),  the  seriem.as  (10-16),  the  secretary  bird  (15- 
16),  the  flamingo  (14,  between  13  and  15),  the  screamers  (13-5?), 
the  dromas  (9-19-22),  the  sea  runners  (22-21),  the  sun-grebes  and 
finfoots  (8-12),  the  tropic  bird  (19-20),  the  oil  bird  and  frog- 
mouth  (17-27),  the  owl-parrot  (17-24!)  the  broadbill  and  lyre  bird 
(31  and  32),  as  bordering  on  to  the  Passeres. 

Within  these  latter  such  links  as  cowbird,  bobolink,  wagtails, 
honey  creepers,  wrentits,  dippers,  etc.,  may  be  interesting. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. — An  analysis  itself. 

For  Study. — If  further  interested,  compare  the  orders  men- 
tioned here  with  descriptions  of  orders  in  any  zoological  text- 
book. Compare  the  keys  to  the  orders  in  Chapman's  Handbook, 
Ridgway's  Manual,  or  Coues's  Key. 

Examine  the  claws,  toes,  shank,  wing  shape,  primaries,  beak, 
nostrils,  and  tail  shape  of  every  bird  falling  in  your  way. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. — The  essentials  of  home  study  of  birds  are 
principally  interest  and  attention.  Small  facilities  followed  up 
may  do  much.  Window  views  of  creepers,  nuthatches,  titmice, 
chickadees,  kinglets,  woodpeckers,  sapsuckers,  warblers  generally, 
vireos,  hummingbirds,  snowbirds,  blackbirds,  flickers,  jays,  screech 
owls,  mocking  birds,  robins,  bluebirds,  orioles,  cowbirds,  and  house 
^vrens  are  noted  as  being  obtained  without  effort. 

Finally. — If  you  have  read  this  book  thoughtfully,  you  will 
feel  a  new  and  affectionate  interest  in  our  feathered  friends,  and 
when  you  are  out  of  doors  you  will  look  for  the  birds,  and  learn 
many  useful  lessons  from  them. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.— A    BIRD'S    FOREFATHERS 1 

II. — HOW   DID   THE    BIRDS    FIRST    FLY,    PERHAPS?        .            .  6 

III. — A  BIRD'S  FORE  LEG 10 

IV. — WHY   DID   THE    BIRDS    PUT    ON   SOFT    RAIMENT?.            .  16 

V. — THE  CUT  OF  A  BIRD'S  FROCK 21 

VI.— ABOUT  A  BIRD'S  UNDERWEAR 25 

VII. — A  BIRD'S  OUTER  WRAP      .                         ...  30 

VIIL— A  BIRD'S  NEW  SUIT 37 

IX. — "  PUTTING  ON  PAINT  AND  FRILLS  "  AMONG  THE  BIRDS  44 

X. — COLOR  CALLS  AMONG  THE  BIRDS       ....  53 

XL — WAR   AND   WEAPONS   AMONG    THE    BIRDS      ...  59 

XII. — ANTICS   AND    ODOR   AMONG   THE   BIRDS           ...  69 

XIII. — THE   MEANING   OF    MUSIC    AMONG   BIRDS        ...  77 

XIV. — FREAKS  OF  BACHELORS  AND  BENEDICTS  IN  FEATHERS  84 

XV. — STEP-PARENTS  AMONG  BIRDS 90 

XVI. — WHY   DID   BIRDS    BEGIN   TO   INCUBATE?        ...  96 

XVII. —  WlIY   1)0   THE   BIRDS    BUILD    SO?            .            .            .            .  101 

XVIII. — FASTIDIOUS  NESTING  HABITS  OF  A  FEW  BIRDS.        .  109 
XIX. — WHAT  MEAN  THE  MARKINGS  AND  SHAPES  OF  BIRDS- 
EGGS?      116 

XX. — WHY  TWO  KINDS  OF  NESTLINGS?       ....  123 

XXI. —  HOW   SOME   BABY   BIRDS   ARE    FED        ....  130 

XXII. — HOW    SOME    GROWN-UP  BIRDS   GET   A   LIVING         .           .  136 

XXIII. — TOOLS   AND   TASKS   AMONG    THE   BIRDS           .            ,            .  144 

xxvii 


xxviii  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIV. — HOW  A  BIED   GOES   TO  BED 154 

XXV. — A    LITTLE   TALK   ON   BIRDS'   TOES       ....  161 

XXVI.— THE  WAY  OF  A  BIRD  IN  THE  AIR  .        .        .        .169 

XXVII. — HOW   AND    WHY   DO   BIRDS   TRAVEL?           .           .            .  177 

XXVIII. — WHAT   A   BIRD   KNOWS   ABOUT   GEOGRAPHY    AND 

ARITHMETIC 186 

XXIX. — PROFIT  AND  LOSS  IN  THE  BIRDS    .        .        .  1(J2 

XXX. — A  BIRD'S  MODERN  KINSFOLK 201 

XXXI. — AN   INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    BIRD       .           .           .     "*    .  213 

XXXII. — ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD      ....  230 

INDEX                                                                      ,  251 


LIST   OF  FULL-PAGE  ILLUSTEATIONS. 


PAGE 

Driving  away  the  birds Frontispiece 

Song  sparrow  and  swamp  sparrow.     (Chapman)      .        .        .17 

Louisiana  water  thrush.     (Chapman) 39 

Ruffed  grouse  displaying  pretty  parts.  (Chapman)  .  .  44 
Bobolink.  (Chapman)  .  .  .  .  .  .  .51 

Thrushes.    (Chapman) 80 

Little  blue  heron.  (Chapman) ...  ^  ...  101 
Sparrow  hawk.  (Chapman)  .  .  .  ^  .  .  .  .  119 
Least  flycatcher.  Phoebe.  (Chapman)  .....  121 
Pied-billed  grebe  and  young.  (Chapman)  ....  135 
Woodcock  and  precocial  young.  (Chapman)  ....  137 

Clapper  rail.     (Chapman) .        .  139 

Hairy  woodpecker.  Yellow-bellied  sapsucker.  (Chapman)  .  149 
Meadow  lark.  (Chapman)  .......  151 

A  rookery 159 

Spotted  sandpiper  and  young.  (Chapman)  ....  173 
A  byway  of  the  birds  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .179 

A  landmark  in  the  birds'  highway 183 

The  vireos.     (Chapman) 239 

White-throated  sparrow.     White-crowned  sparrow.     (Chap- 
man)     246 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 


CHAPTEE   I. 

A    BIRD'S    FOREFATHERS. 

THE  birds  form  one  of  the  five  great  groups  of 
the  vertebrates,  and  of  course  their  ancestry  began 
when  the  backbone  was  a  gristly  cord  on  the  lower 
border  of  the  fishes.  Perhaps  we  might  begin  later, 
when  the  backbone  of  the  higher  fish-forms  had  be- 
come bony  and  jointed  and  a  brain  case  had  expanded 
upon  its  forward  end ;  for  birds  are  certainly  brainy 
creatures.  Later  still,  we  might  set  our  beginning 
when  the  numerous  rays  of  the  fins  of  fishes  gave 
way  to  the  few  fingers  and  toes  of  the  four-footed, 
land-tending  amphibians,  and  where  the  fringed  gill 
of  the  water  breather  yielded  to  the  simple  lung  sac 
of  the  air  breather ;  for  our  bird  has  certainly  four 
limbs  only,  with  few  fingers  and  toes  on  each,  and  it 
is  the  best  adapted  to  air  breathing  of  all  earth's 
creatures.  Or  possibly  our  story  might  begin  at  that 
point  where  the  young  ceased  to  have  a  tadpole  or 
larval  state,  but  began  at  once  to  resemble  its  parents 
2  1 


2  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

as  soon  as  it  was  hatched  or  born ;  for  we  shall  see 
later  that  a  baby  bird  at  once  begins  to  look  like  his 
mother  (Chapter  IX). 

Perhaps  we  might  set  out  at  that  parting  of  the 
ways  between  the  reptiles  and  the  mammals  and  be- 
tween the  reptiles  and  the  amphibians,  where  the 
large  egg  comes  in  and  the  young  are  capable  of  being 
nourished  for  a  long  time  independent  of  the  parent 
or  of  position  in  the  water ;  for  the  yolk  of  the  bird's 
egg  feeds  the  young  bird  till  hatched,  and  in  some 
cases  a  short  while  after,  and  the  hatching  is  inde- 
pendent of  water. 

Then  there  is  the  region  of  better  or  more  cellular 
lungs  that  we  might  begin  at,  or  that  of  a  better  or 
more  extensively  chambered  heart  with  warm  blood 
pulsing  through  it ;  but  that  would  be  getting  up 
within  the  realm  of  the  bird  itself  almost — at  least 
upon  the  border  land.  Yet  the  duckbill  (with  its  kin) 
has  all  these  traits  and  lays  an  egg  and  incubates  it, 
but  it  is  not  a  bird  or  in  the  line  of  the  bird's  ancestry. 

Surely  we  may  say  that  bird  ward  tendencies  were 
set  up  when  Nature  began  by  skin  appendages  to  carry 
the  lizards  through  the  air ;  but  the  development  of 
this  might  have  missed  the  bird  completely,  for  these 
lizards  are  certainly  not  the  ancestors  of  the  bird  any 
more  than  bats  are  its  fellows  or  descendants.  They 
were  only  evolved  out  of  the  same  conditions. 

Here,  indeed,  however,  is  the  true  region,  for  the 
dawning  of  bird  life  closely  follows  the  dawning  of 
vertebrate  flight.  Had  there  been  no  tendency  to  fly, 
the  true  bird  could  never  have  been  developed.  The 


A   BIRD'S  FOREFATHERS.  3 

ancestral  outlook  of  the  birds,  therefore,  lies  in  the 
aspirations  of  the  lizards. 

But  real  bird  life  begins  higher  up  the  line  still, 
where  flight  became  very  special — not  by  skin,  but 
by  scales  with  some  changes  wrought  in  them.  So  far 
as  our  knowledge  goes,  no  creature  except  a  bird  ever 
flew  by  feathers.  It  may  be  possible  that  there  were 
some  soft  modifications  of  the  scales  among  the  active 
terrestrial  reptiles,  but,  so  far  as  we  now  know,  nothing 
but  a  bird  has  ever  wrorn  feathers — except  a  woman 
and  a  savage.  Better  to  say  that  nothing  but  a  bird 
grows  feathers. 

Birds  show  that  their  forefathers  were  among  the 
reptiles  by  the  following  characters  common  to  both, 
and  by  many  others  too  technical  for  our  discus- 
sion : 

The  large  egg  noted,  found  nowhere  else  except 
in  that  three-way  connecting  link  between  birds, 
reptiles,  and  mammals — the  duckbill  group ;  by  the 
lack  of  complete  diaphragm  below  the  heart  and 
lungs ;  by  having  only  a  single  ball-and-socket  joint 
where  the  head  turns  on  the  neck,  whereas  the  mam- 
mals and  amphibians  have  two  ;  by  many  peculiarities 
of  structure  about  the  head,  especially  by  having  the 
lower  jaw  connected  to  the  skull  by  an  intervening 
(quadrate)  bone  not  found  in  the  mammals.  So  also 
there  are  peculiar  arrangements  of  the  circulatory  sys- 
tem and  of  the  bones  of  the  feet,  etc.,  that  are  found 
only  in  these  two  groups.  Finally,  as  distinctive  of 
the  groups,  they  neither  pass  through  a  tadpole  or  in- 
complete state  after  birth,  as  the  amphibians,  or  have 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   BIRDS. 


Archseopteryx  macroura,  Berlin  specimen  (after  Seeley). 


A  BIRD'S  FOREFATHERS.  5 

special  glands  (mammce)  to  nourish  their  young  as  the 
mammals. 

While  they  differ  from  each  other  in  the  bird  hav- 
ing hot  blood  and  feathers  (instead  of  cold  blood  and 
scales),  great  naturalists  are  inclined  to  make  one  class 
cf  the  two  groups.  The  oldest  bird  which  we  know 
of  yet  is  the  fossil  Archceopteryx,  and  had  not  the  print 
of  the  feathers  on  its  wings,  tail,  and  legs  been  left  in 
the  rocks  along  with  its  bones,  it  is  probable  that  it 
would  have  been  classed  simply  as  a  flying  lizard. 

Thinking  back  over  what  has  been  noted,  we  may 
say  of  the  bird  that  it  is — 

A  back-boned,  four-limbed,  lung-breathing,  egg- 
laying,  hot-blooded,  feather-covered,  upright-walking 
creature,  having  its  fore  legs  adapted  to  flight ;  for, 
however  flightless  a  bird  may  be  now,  there  is  suffi- 
cient evidence  that  it  has  come  out  of  an  ancestry 
whose  wings  were  once  really  complete  and  useful. 

Whether  all  birds  have  had  the  same  forefather 
is  a  much  discussed  question  out  of  place  in  this  con- 
nection, but  it  is  further  slightly  referred  to  in  Chap- 
ter III. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

HOW    DID    THE    BIRDS    FIRST    FLY,    PERHAPS  ? 

NATURE  seems  rarely  surprised  in  the  demands 
made  o'f  her.  She  is  usually  well  up  to  the  emer- 
gency, and  often  seems  to  be  looking  ahead. 

The  great  instrument  of  dry  land  invasion  was  the 
backbone,  and  this  was  developed  in  the  water ;  and 
the  great  instrument  of  vertebrate  invasion  of  the 
"  upper,  deep  "  was  the  wing,  largely  developed,  per- 
haps, before  its  owners  made  any  attempts  at  flutter- 
ing up. 

The  wing  as  we  see  it  now  is  much  modified  by 
the  growth  of  feathers  and  its  adaptation  to  flight  by 
them,  but  there  were  reptiles  that  walked  in  an  upright 
position  and  exhibited  many  birdlike  characteristics 
before  the  dawn  of  the  flight  quill. 

From  the  structure  of  the  skeleton  it  is  the  opin- 
ion of  some  eminent  naturalists  that  birds  not  only 
walked  uprightly  and  hopped  bipedally  in  trees  before- 
they  flew,  but  that  they  flew  before  they  had  wing 
feathers  ;  and  of  many  others  think  that  they  at  least 
crawled  about  trees  before  they  flew,  as  the  frequent 
presence  of  wing  claws  yet  indicates,  and  as  a  few  in- 
stances of  modern  young  birds  crawling  and  climbing 
by  these  claws  hint. 


HOW  DID  THE   BIRDS   FIRST   FLY,  PERHAPS!      7 

Across  the  front  re-entering  angle  of  a  bird's  wing 
now  the  skin  is  expanded  into  a  double  membrane, 
which,  when  the  wing  is  opened,  is  kept  tight  and 
spread  out  by  a  special  ligament  and  muscle  stretched 
from  shoulder  to  wrist,  to  use  the  figure  of  our  own 
arm.  This  muscle  appears  as  if  it  had  been  stripped 
up  from  the  region  of  our  biceps  to  support  the  wing 
automatically  when  folded,  but  it  is  a  distinct  devel- 
opment and  not  stripped  up.  It  is  not  at  all  improb- 


Pteroelactyl. 

able  that  the  very,  very  early  birds  may  have  used 
this  skinny  expansion  on  the  fore  leg  to  break  the 
shock  of  a  downward  leap  (whether  made  bipedally 
or  quadrupedally),  or  it  may  have  been  so  extensive 
then  as  to  enable  them  to  sail  downward,  as  the  flying 
squirrels-  and  others  do  now  by  a  special  development 


8  THE   STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 

of  the  skin  behind  the  armpit  and  in  front  of  the 
flank. 

Skin-flying,  as  we  have  seen,  was  very  fashionable 
in  those  days.  The  Pterodactyl  group  had  true,  con- 
tinuous flight  by  the  skin  of  their  little  fingers,  and 
some  arboreal  frogs  may  have  been  easing  the  jar  of 
a  downward  leap  then  as  now  by  the  expansion  of  the 
skin  between  their  toes.  It  is  not  likely,  however, 
that  birds  attained  true  continuous  flight  by  means  of 
this  membrane,  which  is  called  the  patagium,  but 
that  it  was  simply  the  first  instrument  upon  which  the 
forefathers  of  the  bird  first  launched  themselves  into 
the  air.  Some  thinkers  are  inclined  to  believe  that, 
even  after  the  coming  of  feathers,  this  membrane  was 
a  factor  in  flying. 

But  doubtless  in  time  feathers  or  plumous  scales 
growing  projectingly  from  the  rear  of  the  arm  and 
from  other  regions,  became  similarly  useful  in  resist- 
ing the  air,  and  were  finally,  in  connection  with  the 
wing,  the  exclusive  instruments  of  flight.  That 
feathers  were  used  at  first  as  means  of  sailing  down 
only  is  strongly  hinted  in  so  complete  a  bird  as  the 
Archceopteryx.  It  had  doubtless  continuous  flight, 
but  the  bony  part  of  its  tail  was  longer  than  its  body, 
and  each  vertebra  (or  joint)  had  a  flat  feather  project- 
ing from  each  side  like  the  hairs  on  a  squirrel's  tail. 
Likewise  the  "drumstick"  of  the  leg  was  feathered 
so  that,  outspread  as  the  squirrel  in  his  leap,  the  an- 
cestors of  this  bird  had  likely  sailed  down  from  high 
places. 

Indeed,  it  is  just  probable  that  the  Archceopteryx 


HOW  DID   THE   BIRDS  FIRST   FLY,  PERHAPS?      9 

itself  could  not  rise  directly  from  a  flat  surface,  but 
had  to  climb  some  eminence  from  which  to  launch 
itself.  If  it  could  rise  from  the  earth,  it  was  doubt- 
less only  against  a  hard  wind,  wherein  its  feathered 
tail  and  legs  (tibice)  would  act  as  a  kite  while  it  flut- 
tered forward  with  its  wings.  In  view  of  this  great 
length  of  tail  still  persisting  in  so  well  developed  a 
bird,  it  seems  quite  probable  that  it  (and  all  the  flying 
lizards  below  it)  could  go  forward  only  against  the 
wind  or  in  a  perfect  calm.  To  go  with  the  wind  they 
had  to  flutter  backward  likely  as  many  insects  do 
yet.  While  these  long  tails  were  quite  helpful  at 
first,  they  were  shortened  later,  that  the  bird  might 
better  turn  around  and  fly  forward  under  any  con- 
dition. Their  loss  was  doubtless  gradual,  with  the 
development  of  better  wings. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  place  than  this  to  com- 
bat the  popularly  prevailing  idea  that  a  bird's  tail  acts 
as  the  rudder  of  a  boat.  To  a  slight  extent  in  some 
birds  it  may,  but  where  the  wing  is  perfected,  as  in 
the  swifts,  the  albatross  and  others,  turning  is  effected 
at  once  with  a  very  scant  tail ;  and  its  use  in  flight 
always  has  more  reference  to  the  up-and-down  move- 
ments than  to  the  lateral.  It  comes  into  play  in 
alighting  (as  a  brake)  or  in  rising  (as  a  kitelike  sur- 
face), and  is  used  dexterously  by  the  soaring  birds  in 
balancing  themselves  against  varying  currents  of 
wind.  Hence  we  see  that  the  earlier  and  later  uses 
of  the  tail  of  birds  are  very  much  the  same,  and  that 
a  large  lot  of  unreadable  history  lies  in  the  jainmed- 
up  caudal  vertebrae  of  the  modern  flier. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A    BIRD'S    FORE  LEG. 

OF  course,  it  is  apparent  that  the  wing  of  a  bird 
corresponds  to  the  front  leg  of  a  quadruped,  but  it  is 
not  so  evident  at  a  glance  that  it  is  a  leg  or  the  result 
of  a  leg's  modification.  Yet,  to  the  student  of  the 
skeletons  of  birds  as  an  entire  group,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  skeletons  of  reptiles,  especially  liz- 
ards, no  other  opinion  can  well  prevail. 

The  modifications  of  limbs  by  loss  of  digits  from 
the  twenty  rays  of  the  fish's  fin  to  the  single  toe  of 
the  horse  is  interesting.  This  degeneration  soon 
reached  five  digits  normally  in  the  reptiles,  especially 
in  the  rear ;  but  in  those  that  were  most  birdlike,  of 
which  the  fossils  are  known,  it  ran  lower  both  on 
hand  and  foot. 

The  earliest  bird  we  know  had  four  toes  and  three 
fingers,  and  this  is  the  normal  yet. 

In  this  half -reptilian  Archceopteryx  already  noted 
all  the  bones  of  the  fingers  were  free  from  each  other, 
and  if  a  thumb  were  present  it  was  alongside  the  others 
and  of  about  equal  length  with  them.  In  all  later  birds 
the  thumb,  so  called,  is  much  shorter  than  the  other 
fingers  and  has  fewer  number  of  joints,  and,  except  in 

10 


A   BIRD'S   FORE   LEO.  H 

penguins,  is  entirely  free.  The  other  two  fingers  are 
not  only  inclosed  in  the  same  skin  and  other  tissues, 
but  their  bones  at  the  base  are  fused  together  in  such 
a  way  as  to  form  a  strong  wing  tip.  In  very  young 
birds  they  are  free.  Birds,  bats,  and  the  fossil-flying 
lizards  all  fly  (or  flew)  largely  by  their  fingers,  and  the 
last  almost  solely  by  the  little  finger. 

The  claws  on  the  fingers  of  the  Archceopteryx  were 
perhaps  useful,  as  we  have  seen,  in  climbing. 

Many  more  birds  than  we  usually  suspect  show 
vestiges  yet  of  claws  on  the  fingers.  Our  turkey  vul- 
ture, some  ostrich  forms,  some  swans  and  others, 
even  up  as  high  as  the  thrush  forms,  have  claws  vari- 
ously located  on  the  wing  tips  of  the  adult.  Some 
young  gallinules  have  these  claws  so  functional  that 
they  can  pull  themselves  about  over  reeds  and  grass 
with  them,  and  in  an  allied  bird  in  South  America, 


Wing  of  young  hoactzin,  showing  claws. 

the  hoactzin,  the  young,  while  yet  unfledged,  can  climb 
in  a  crawling  attitude  over  bushes  and  among  the 
branches  of  trees.  In  this  latter  case  the  claws  are 
shed  when  the  nestling  is  fully  feathered. 

Besides  having  the  front  paw  thus  fused  and  mit- 
tened,  the  modern  bird's  fore  leg  is  otherwise  much 


12  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

modified.  There  being  small  use  in  flexing  the  fingers, 
there  are  very  slight  muscles  on  the  forearm.  The 
hand  is  not  flexed  to  any  great  extent  by  tendons,  but 
by  a  peculiar  mechanical  union  of  the  two  bones  of 
the  forearm.  We  have  already  noticed  the  use  of  the 
muscle  and  tendon  which  spreads  the  patagium,  or 
skin  fold,  but  the  modern  use  of  this  tendon  is  more 
apparent,  since,  by  its  elasticity,  it  holds  the  wing 
when  at  rest  automatically  folded.  This  it  can  more 
easily  do,  since  it  stretches  directly  across  the  front 
angle  and  furnishes  one  of  the  few  instances  in  Na- 
ture where  a  muscle  pulls  at  the  long  end  of  a  lever. 

This  ligament  and  its  membrane  has  another  use — 
that  of  forming  and  maintaining  a  comparatively 
straight  edge  to  the  wing  in  all  its  positions  in  flight, 
and  it  is  just  probable  that  this  has  always  been  its 
sole  use.  If  we  conceive  ligaments  at  C  binding  rd, 
sc,  and  the  end  of  me  at  I  together,  and  that  ul,  cu 
are  similarly  bound  to  mo  near  0,  it  will  be  seen  that 
when  C  is  drawn  toward  A,  the  point  D  will  auto- 
matically approach  JS  without  any  muscular  effort 
exercised  on  CD. 

There  are  many  instances  in  Nature,  however, 
where  an  old  instrument,  after  ceasing  to  be  useful  in 
the  old  capacity,  is  put  at  new  work  under  new  con- 
ditions. The  bird's  fore  leg  is  itself,  as  a  whole,  one 
of  the  most  striking. 

Many  of  these  changes  have  come  about  at  the 
demand  for  lightness  at  the  wing's  extremity,  but 
other  changes  have  been  wrought  for  the  sake  of 
proper  balance  during  flight.  In  quadrupeds  and 


A   BIRD'S  FORE   LEG. 


13 


man  the  muscles  that  open  the  arms  or  fore  legs  away 
from  the  body  lie  mostly  between  the  shoulders.  But 
suspended  by  the  wings,  the  bird  might  be  too  top- 
heavy  if  the  region  between  them  were  piled  high 


Skeleton  of  duck's  wing  (after  Coues). 

h,  humerus ;  rd,  radius ;  ul,  ulna,  showing  pits,  pts,  where  the  secondary 
flight  quills  enter  slightly;  sc  and  cu,  carpals,  forming  the  wrist; 
d*,  so-called  thumb  ;  me,  me,  the  hand  bone,  composed  of  three  bones 
fused  into  one  girder-shaped  piece, one  for  each  digit;  the  "thumb" 
abutting  against  a  short  one  at  the  base ;  d9,  the  middle  and  longest 
digit;  fi?4,  outer  digit,  inclosed  in  tissue  with  d3. 

with  muscles.  So  these  muscles  are  placed  below 
upon  the  chest,  and  by  their  weight  help  to  keep  the 
bird  in  proper  position  during  flight ;  and  they  effect 
their  lifting  power  upon  the  wing  by  means  of  ten- 
dons that  run  up  over  a  pulley.  Perhaps  in  all  the 
modifications  of  the  bird's  fore  leg  this  is  the  greatest. 


14  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

There  are  some  other  changes,  such  as  the  change 
of  the  direction  in  the  hinging  of  the  bird  wrist  and 
the  pitting  of  the  bones  (to  better  suit  the  attachment 
of  wing  quills),  but  we  can  not  discuss  these  here. 

There  is  no  biological  evidence  that  wings  ever 
sprouted  out  of  birds  (or  any  other  vertebrate)  as 
wings.  Short,  vestigial  wings  of  some  ostrich  forms 
and  fossil  birds  all  show  traces  of  having  degenerated 
from  a  wing  once  good  and  complete,  but  which  has 
lost  its  parts  by  disuse  as  a  fanner.  Neither  can  we 
say  that  bird  wings,  as  we  know  them  now,  were  the 
cause  of  flight,  but  rather,  as  we  saw  in  the  last  chap- 
ter, they  are  the  result  of  it. 

So  likewise  it  is  probable  that  the  use  of  feathers 
in  their  present  form  was  simply  an  incident  to  con- 
ditions begun  long  before  they  were  useful  in  flight. 
But  while  there  is  no  doubt  that  feathers  are  not  ne- 
cessary to  flight,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
much  of  their  present  structure,  when  complete,  is 
the  result  of  their  special  adaptation  to  its  demands, 
and  that  they  have  been  a  large  factor  in  modifying  a 
bird's  fore  leg. 

The  placing  of  this  muscle  on  the  chest  and  the 
development  of  the  greater  one  that  overlies  it,  by 
which  the  down  stroke  of  the  wing  is  made,  were  evi- 
dently brought  about  by  the  demands  for  fluttering 
up,  while  the  fore  leg  began  at  first  to  be  modified  as 
an  instrument  for  getting  down.  This  great  change 
in  wing  muscles  must  then  have  been  comparatively 
later. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  place  than  this  to  speak 


A   BIRD'S  FORE  LEG.  15 

sparingly  of  bipedal  motion  in  birds.  While  the 
Archceopteryx  could  evidently  stand  upright,  and  had 
almost  a  perfect  perching  foot  with  a  limb-clasping, 
opposable  toe,  there  is  much  about  the  bones  of  its 
feet  and  legs  that  implies  that  it  did  not  come  from 
an  upright  ancestry  very  far  back.  But  some  of 
the  ostrich  forms,  living  and  fossil,  which  have  their 
skeletons  adapted  to  running,  show  such  close  re- 
semblance to  some  fossil  reptiles  which  are  known  to 
have  walked  bipedally  long  before  flight  that  they 
tend  to  give  us  the  impression  that  they  are  lineal  de- 
scendants of  these  terrestrial  reptiles.  The  absence 
of  any  muscle-holding  ridge  on  their  breast  bones  and 
the  smallness  of  these  breast  muscles  may  imply  that 
they  had  never  attained  to  fluttering  up  flight,  and 
that  their  wings  had  degenerated  from  an  imperfect 
condition  as  their  bipedal  motion  had  further  developed. 
This  is  not  likely  the  case,  however.  In  such  other  birds, 
akin  to  the  strain  of  the  Archceopteryx,  perfect  bi- 
pedal motion  seems  to  have  been  the  result  rather  of 
the  fore  leg's  complete  development  into  a  model  pin- 
ion, while  it  was  useful  at  first  to  walk  or  crawl  with. 

It  may  be,  therefore,  as  held  by  many  thinkers, 
that  by  more  than  one  route  the  birds  have  come  out 
of  the  region  of  the  reptiles;  but  others  feel  that 
every  wing  to-day,  from  penguin  to  thrush,  is  the  de- 
scendant of  a  single  type  in  the  beginning,  modified 
by  various  developments  and  degenerations. 

Certain  it  is  that  if  we  knew  the  history  of  a  bird's 
fore  leg,  we  should  know  a  great  deal  more  about  its 
forefathers. 


OHAPTEK  IV. 

WHY   DID   THE   BIRDS    PUT    ON    SOFT   RAIMENT  ? 

NATURE   is   a  great   preserver    of  her    energies. 
I  Only  in  the  growing  and  sowing  of  many  seeds  does 
she  appear  wasteful,  but  this  is  the  truest  economy. 

She  expects  adversity  and  accident,  and  prepares 
to  meet  both,  as  if  she  had  learned  her  lesson  grad- 
ually by  experience. 

The  bird  was  likely  her  first  hot-blooded  animal. 
Certainly  it  was  among  the  first.  For  the  invasion  of 
earth  and  air,  as  we  have  seen,  she  needed  a  better 
furnace  and  fanner,  and  a  better  fuel  carrier  than 
any  reptile  or  fish  had.  So  she  added  more  cham- 
bers to  the  heart  (or  to  her  liquid  fuel  pump)  and 
more  cells  to  the  lungs  (or  flues  to  her  boiler),  till 
the  blood  pulsed  hot  and  throbbing  with  power  in 
the  new  creature. 

Except  perhaps  the  smaller  winged  insects,  no  ani- 
mal works  at  a  higher  pressure  than  the  flying  birds. 
Their  normal  temperature  (104°  F.)  is  high  fever  heat 
in  man.  They  burn  fuel  fast.  No  other  vertebrate 
expends  so  much  per  hour  or  for  so  long  a  time  at  a 
stretch.  It  is  like  "  an  ocean  greyhound  "  in  minia- 
ture. 

16 


Song  sparrow  and  swamp  sparrow,  both  of  the  same  genus,  Melospiza. 


WHY  DID  THE  BIRDS  PUT  ON  SOFT  RAIMENT?    17 


Heat  is  power ;  we  know  that.  It  is  at  present 
the  source  of  all  energy,  we  know  that,  and  we  Hst 
our  doors,  double  our  windows  that  we  may  preserve 
it  when  we  need  it.  We  clothe  ourselves  in  flannels 
and  heavy  outer  coats  that  we  may  live  by  it,  and 
jacket  the  steam  pipes  and  boilers  of  our  locomotives 
that  we  may  more  economically  move  by  it. 

Nature  having  a  good  boiler  now  proposes  to 
jacket  it  to  prevent 
loss  by  radiation,  and 
hence  the  mission  of 
fur  and  feathers,  as 
seen  in  the  toes 
of  arctic  birds,  be- 
ing feathered  to  the 
claws.  This  is  also 
the  meaning  of  the 
dense  downs  of  the 
water  birds. 

It  is  not  likely, 
however,  that  the 
bird  was  clothed 
previous  to  its  show 
of  extra  energy.  Na- 
ture's charity  is  the 
best,  and  she  gives 
only  in  the  line  of  our  needs,  and  usually  at  their 
promptings.  Feathers  were  not  necessary  to  flight, 
as  we  have  seen,  but  they  greatly  advanced  it.  "  Un- 
to him  that  hath  it  shall  be  given  "  is  a  law  of  Nature 
as  well  as  Revelation,  and  in  preserving  the  bird's 


Foot  of  snowy  owl. 


18  THE  STORY   OF   THE  BIRDS. 

energy  she  gave  it  a  better  means  through  its  cover- 
ing of  hooking  on  to  the  air.  Because  of  its  struggle 
upward  she  gave  the  bird  in  its  soft  apparel  a  new  fin 
for  a  new  element. 

Nature  shows  her  heat-preserving  tendencies  in 
the  bird  by  another  change  which  was  radical.  The 
fishes  and  reptiles  had  various  external  pores,  as  also 
have  some  mammals.  Through  them  they  moistened 
the  skin  with  various  secretions  for  various  purposes, 
perhaps  for  lubrication  in  the  fishes.  To  a  quiet,  lazy 
land  creature,  as  a  tree  frog,  Nature  could  even  give 
oxygen  by  dampening  its  surface ;  and  others  could 
thus  breathe  through  the  skin  solely  while  beneath 
the  water.  But  in  a  bird  which  moved  so  rapidly, 
any  surface  moisture  would  tend  to  cool  it  too  much 
and  to  weaken  it.  Besides,  it  would  dampen  the 
plumage — another  thing  not  desirable.  So  the  pores 
of  the  skins  of  birds  were  largely  suppressed,  and  the 
dire  possibility  of  cleaving  the  air  at  a  hundred  miles 
an  hour  in  a  high  state  of  perspiration  was  prevented. 
It  is  possible  that  this,  too,  was  the  result  of  flight  by 
a  long  line  of  fitting  survivals ;  for  chilling  the  sur- 
face closes  the  pores,  as  we  well  know  when  we  "  take 
cold." 

Scales  in  no  way  tended  toward  heat  preservation. 
In  fact,  they  were  rather  fitted  to  dissipate  and  radiate 
it.  Perhaps  this  may  have  been  one  of  their  purposes. 
The  primary  mission  of  cold  blood  was  adaptation, 
without  shock,  of  the  creature  to  a  constantly  cold  or 
watery  environment.  But  a  bird  invaded  a  realm  of 
various  degrees  of  temperature.  The  one  best  clothed 


WHY  DIB  THE  BIRDS  PUT  ON  SOFT  RAIMENT?    19 

for  extremes  could  migrate  over  the  greatest  range  of 
climate,  and  a  better  development  of  feathers  meant 
a  better  development  of  flight  and  the  finding  of 
newer  and  better  food  regions — in  fact,  progress  gen- 
erally. They  traveled  on  their  good  clothes  literally 
as  some  persons  do  figuratively.  It  was  a  wonderful 
step,  therefore,  when  the  ancestors  of  our  modern 
birds  first  donned  soft  raiment. 

It  may  be  well  before  closing  this  chapter  to 
say  that,  contrary  to  the  usual  popular  impression, 
feathers  were  not  given  birds  to  make  them  light. 
Feathers  have  weight  of  their  own,  and  from  this 
standpoint  birds  would  be  better  off  without  them. 
It  is  true  that  some  seeds  are  floated  in  the  air  by 
vegetable  downs,  and  that  some  spiders  migrate  on 
gossamers ;  but  there  is  a  very  small  limit  to  these 
uses  of  fluffy  substances — not  reaching  up  to  the 
weight  of  the  bird,  even  if  it  were  designed  to  float 
(only)  in  the  air. 

It  is  well  known  that  weight  is  necessary  to  actual 
flight,  and,  as  a  rule,  the  heaviest  birds  are  among  the 
best  fliers — especially  the  best  soarers.  Even  a  but- 
terfly could  not  go  against  the  wind  if  it  had  not  some 
weight. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  flight  quills 
are  made  as  light  as  possible  consistent  with  stiffness 
and  strength,  and  that  the  tubular  form  of  the  barrel 
(toothpick  part)  and  pithy  nature  of  the  shaft  are 
partly  brought  about  by  these  demands  ;  and  doubt- 
less all  the  plumage  is  affected  by  these  conditions, 
first  set  up  in  wing  and  tail.  But  mere  lightness  is 


20  THE  STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 

no  more  the  cause  of  feathers  being  plumous,  than  it 
is  of  hair  being  furry. 

In  this  connection  also,  though  not  exactly  in 
order,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  much  doubt  if  any 
of  the  spaces  about  the  body  or  in  the  bones  of  birds 
are  filled  with  air  for  the  purpose  of  buoyancy. 

It  is  not  known  that  a  bird  inflates  itself  during 
flight,  and  the  plumage  is  certainly  very  compact  at 
this  time. 

All  bones  that  are  tubular  are  surely  so  for  the 
sake  of  putting  the  material  into  the  best  shape  for 
strength  combined  with  lightness ;  and  in  the  birds 
they  are  devoid  of  marrow,  often  doubtless  to  admit 
air,  since  they  have  openings  connected  with  ducts 
leading  to  the  lungs  and  other  air  spaces.  But  if 
mere  lightness  were  the  only  object  their  interiors 
should  be  vacuums,  since  air  is  heavier  than  nothing 
at  all. 

Air  cavities  in  bones  and  tissues,  especially  of 
birds,  are  probable  aids  or  supplements  to  scant  lung 
surface,  demanded  by  a  very  active  life  ;  for  they  are 
found  in  the  non -flying  ostrich  forms,  and  even  in 
many  heavy  but  active  fossil  reptiles.  Some  air 
spaces  and  sacs  in  birds,  reptiles,  and  amphibians, 
and  even  mammals,  have  other  uses  not  discussable 
here.  To  return  to  our  topic,  it  is  likely  that,  if  we 
knew  how  a  bird  first  put  on  feathers,  we  should 
know  more  of  the  biography  of  its  fore  leg. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

THE    CUT    OF    A   BIRD'S    FROCK. 

THE  color  of  a  bird's  coat  has  been  much  empha- 
sized since  Mr.  Darwin  found  it  a  matter  of  so  much 
significance,  but  it  is  not  known  so  generally  that  the 
cut  of  the  garment,  its  gores,  seams,  plackets,  puffs, 
etc.,  tell  more  of  a  bird's  position  in  feathered  society 
than  its  colors.  But  fissures  and  rents  here  do  not 
mean  poverty  or  a  low  condition — in  fact,  rather  the 
contrary,  since  only  the  lowest  birds  now  have  cloth- 
ing over  the  entire  body. 

It  would  be  very  tedious,  even  if  it  could  be  done, 
to  notice  all  the  various  arrangements  of  plumage  in 
the  different  groups  of  birds.  The  feathers  grow  in 
rather  symmetrical  tracts,  with  intervening  bare  spaces 
and,  at  times,  with  interrupting  bare  patches,  causing 
forks  and  various  changes  in  these  tracts. 

The  most  characteristic  of  these  are  the  tracts  on 
the  top  and  bottom  of  the  bird,  which  are  normally 
median.  That  beneath  in  most  birds  has  rather  con- 
stantly in  the  center  of  it  a  bare  space,  which  may  be 
held  there  by  the  habit  and  effect  of  incubation,  but 
the  bare  spot  in  the  back  tract  is  more  variable  in  its 
position,  and  is  often  entirely  wanting. 

21 


22  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

In  the  very  young  birds  these  often  give  the  frock 
the  appearance  of  having  a  V-shape  front  and  back— 
a  thing  pardonable  enough  in  a  baby,  but  which  is 
decently  covered  up  by  the  overlapping  of  the  feath- 
ered tracts  as  the  bird  grows  older.  Bare  skin  is 
used  as  ornament  in  adult  birds,  as  well  as  in  the 
ballet  and  the  best  society,  but  always  modestly  on 
the  extremities  of  feet  or  head.  In  fact,  as  we  come 
up  higher  among  birds,  where  monogamy,  gallantry, 
devotion,  and  decency  prevail,  we  do  not  find  it  at 
all — the  oscines,  or  prima  donnas  in  feathers,  in  no 
sense  needing  the  decollete  to  make  them  attractive. 
Even  the  bare  space  in  the  back  is  wanting  here. 


Feather  tracts  (after  Coues). 

Lower  surface  of  a  swift,  showing        Upper  surface  of  a  swift,  showing 
tracts  and  bare  spaces  on  ab-  the  forking  of  feather  tracts  on 

domen,  neck,  etc.  back,  etc. 

Besides  these  two  bare  tracts  there  are  many  others. 
Some  of  those  extending  upon  the  neck  are  very 
helpful  also  in  showing  the  kinship  of  birds. 

Among  the  birds  of  the  group  known  as  the 
PicaricB,  where  the  yoke-toes  and  other  abnormalities 


THE   CUT   OP   A  BIRD'S  FROCK.  23 

of  feet  so  largely  prevail,  the  bare  tract  on  the  back 
is  placed  variously.  A  glance  at  a  nestling  swift  or 
woodpecker,  in  comparison  with  a  nestling  sparrow 
or  robin,  will  show  a  striking  difference  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  plumage. 

There  stands  directly  between  the  ostrich  forms 
and  the  fowl  forms  a  singular  group  known  as  Tina- 
mous,  which  have  so  many  characteristics  of  each  that 


Swifts. 

systematists  have  wrangled  much  over  its  position. 
It  is  resting  now,  perhaps  rather  securely,  in  the  fowl 
group,  partly  because  its  plumage  shows  bare  tracts, 
as  no  ostrich  form  does. 

The  origin  and  purpose  of  the  various  tracts  is  yet 
rather  obscure,  and  will  doubtless  remain  so.  Only 
the  ostrich  forms,  the  penguins,  the  screamers  (and 


24  THE   STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 

the  toucans,  perhaps),  have  their  bodies  solidly  cov- 
ered. But  the  embryos  (which  may  tell  us  so  much 
of  the  history  of  the  race)  in  the  ostrich  forms  have 
the  feather  tracts  well  defined,  and  so  have  some  fos- 
sil penguins.  We  are  justified,  then,  in  thinking  that 
the  primitive  birds  had  their  plumage  in  patches. 

The  wise  men  tell  us  that  feathers  are  modified 
scales,  and  it  may  be  that  these  modifications  had 
different  centers  or  places  of  beginning;  but  since 
the  patterns  now  show  so  much  variety,  it  is  evident 
that  the  original  arrangements  have  been  very  striking- 
ly changed  somewhere  in  the  less  remote  past.  But 
why  these  patterns  should  tend  now  to  prevail  so  dis- 
tinctly, and  to  be  rather  more  than  less  definite  in  the 
higher  groups,  is  not  so  apparent.  It  may  be  that 
after  the  plumage  grew  longer  and  spread  well  over 
the  entire  surface  from  different  centers,  as  it  does 
now,  these  bare  tracts  were  all  protected  from  any 
external  influence  tending  to  change  them,  and  they 
persist  now  unmodified.  Since  solidly  feathered  birds 
are  largely  degenerate  and  flightless,  we  can  not  resist 
feeling  that  bare  tracts  are  in  some  undefinable  way 
connected  with  flight.  At  any  rate,  if  we  knew  why 
a  bird  cut  its  frock  so,  we  should  certainly  know  a 
great  deal  more  about  why  it  put  on  soft  raiment  and 
about  its  history  in  general — just  as  the  fashions  of  a 
people  help  us  to  judge  of  its  customs  and  character. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ABOUT    A    BIRD'S    UNDERWEAR. 

IT  is  just  possible  that  underwear  is  a  late  acqui- 
sition with  the  birds  as  it  has  been  with  man,  although 
there  are  some  indications  pointing  otherwise.  If 
feathers  are  modified  scales,  it  seems  scarcely  prob- 
able that  they  were  at  first  so  soft  and  plumous  as 
the  present  downs  are,  and  yet  the  strong  barbed  and 
hooked  flight  quills  and  external  body  feathers  which 
we  see  now  are  evidently  of  later  development. 

Underwear  now  with  the  bird  is  the  first  consid- 
eration, and  the  swaddling  clothes  of  all  little  birds 
form  the  beginnings  or  the  germs  of  all  subsequent 
plumage.  In  the  same  sockets  in  which  the  nestling 
downs  grow,  the  larger  feathers  grow  and  push  out 
their  tiny  predecessors  upon  their  tips,  making  the 
little  bird  really  wear,  for  a  little  while,  his  slight 
under  garment  as  an  overcoat.  So  likewise  those 
downs  which  are  found  among  the  plumage  of  adult 
birds,  and  which,  differing  strongly  from  the  swad- 
dling down,  form  a  bird's  true  underwear,  also  push 
the  nestling  downs  out. 

These  adult  downs  may  be  degenerate  feathers,  or 
they  may  be  very  primitive  ones,  we  can  not  say  ;  but 

25 


26  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

certain  it  is  that  there  are  many  degenerate  feathers — 
especially  noticeable  in  such  flightless  birds  as  the 
apteryx  and  others,  where  the  plumage  has  lost  its 
hooks  and  become  slightly  hairlike.  Some  of  these 
degenerations  are  a  source  of  great  beauty,  as  seen  in 
the  plumage  of  peacocks,  lyre  birds  and  others,  where 
the  loss  of  some  part  of  the  feather  produces  the  flossy 
effect.  Similarly  in  the  so-called  bristles  about  the 
beak  the  feather  has  lost  everything  but  barrel  and 
shaft.  There  are  many  of  these  among  the  dense 
plumage  also. 

So  in  its  degenerate  condition,  if  such  it  be,  a 
bird's  underwear  may  be  made  extremely  ornamental 
at  places  where  it  can  show,  as  ours  does  in  cuffs,  col- 
lars and  frills,  sometimes.  This  is  especially  notice- 
able in  the  condor's  ruche  of  down  about  the  neck 
and  on  the  cottony  tufts  about  the  flanks  of  some 
smaller  birds,  which  seem  to  have  antedated  the 
modern  charmer  in  exhibiting  just  the  daintiest  bits 
of  tantalizing  white  in  a  very  effective  manner. 

Nay,  it  may  be  that  the  birds  have  outdone  us  in 
another  respect  here.  In  the  herons  and  their  kin,  in 
the  goatsucker  group  and  others  (usually  nocturnal) 
are  found,  rather  symmetrically  placed,  certain  tracts 
of  downs  that  are  constantly  undergoing  slow  oxida- 
tion or  breaking  down  into  powders  which  usually 
show  externally.  Some  of  these  are  front  only,  some 
are  rear  and  some  birds  have  them  at  both  places. 
Their  purpose  has  not  been  determined  yet,  but  it 
has  been  asserted  that  in  herons  at  least  these  spots 
are  phosphorescent  at  night,  and  that  fish  are  thereby 


ABOUT  A   BIRD'S   UNDERWEAR.  27 

lured  within  easy  reach.  If  this  should  be  true,  it 
may  be  that  some  others  charm  or  signal  to  their 
mates  in  this  way,  as  the  fireflies  do,  by  this  sort  of 
fireworks  formed  by  the  cremation  of  the  ragged 
edges  of  the  underwear.  These  things  are  not  very 
probable,  and  even  the  phosphorescence  needs  con- 
firmation, but  certainly  here  is  hinted  a  very  interest- 
ing method  of  changing  winter  flannels. 

Most  birds  show  the  presence  of  downs  in  the 
bare  tracts  only,  and  not  within  the  feather  tracts 
already  noted.  If  then  these  downs  be  regarded  as 
degenerate  feathers,  the  bare  spaces  would  appear  to 
be  more  recent  than  the  feather  tracts ;  but  if  these 
downs  be  primitive  forms  of  feathers,  Nature  may 
now  be  attempting  to  fill  these  "  clearings  "  with  an 
undergrowth. 

Water  birds  only  and  those  close  akin  to  them 
have  these  downs  over  the  entire  body.  Since  the 
water-haunting  kinds  of  kingfishers  (and  not  other 
insect-eating  kinds),  and  the  water  ousel  or  dipper 
only  among  the  wren-thrush  forms,  have  these  downs 
similarly  arranged  all  over  the  body,  it  seems  quite 
evident  that  the  growth  of  underwear  is  influenced 
by  environment  or  habit,  inasmuch  as  these  last  birds 
are  comparatively  recent. 

The  tinamous  alone  have  the  downs  confined  to 
the  feather  tracts  only. 

Birds  have  another  feature  of  their  underwear 
worth  noting.  Many  of  the  contour  or  body  feathers 
of  some  show  a  second  feather  growing  out  of  the  top 
of  the  barrel  (or  toothpick  part),  directly  beneath  the 


28  THE  STORY  OP   THE  BIRDS. 

first.  This  is  the  case  (even  more  marked)  with  their 
downs  also.  In  the  adult  cassowaries  and  emeus  this 
aftershaft  (as  it  is  called)  is  as  large  as  the  other  or 
true  feathers,  but  in  their  nestling  downs  it  is  smaller, 
showing  quite  probably  that  its  size  in  their  case  is  a 
later  development. 

If  it  were  once  a  general  form  of  underwear  it 
was  a  fashion  easily  changed ;  for  many  lower,  and 
most  of  the  higher,  birds  seemed  to  have  abandoned 
it.  It  is  scarcely  found  at  all  upon  the  tail  and  wing 
quills,  and  in  some  birds  it  persists  among  the  downs 
only. 

Besides  thickening  the  plumage  its  purpose  is  not 
apparent.  The  only  hint — perhaps  a  faint  one — of 
its  origin  is  that  some  ostrich  forms  (the  lowest  living 
birds)  have  double-stemmed  feathers.  In  some  moas 
(now  extinct)  the  feather-producing  sockets  tend  to 
pair  and  merge  into  each  other  on  the  neck  (likewise 
producing  double-stemmed  feathers),  but  they  are  far 
apart  on  the  rest  of  the  body.  It  may  be  possible 
that  the  clustering  of  papillae  or  feather-growing 
pockets  has  left  certain  places  f eatherless ;  and  here 
may  lie  one  step  back  in  the  formation  of  bare  tracts. 
We  feel  sure  that  all  birds  once  had  after-shafted 
plumage.  But  what  made  the  papillae  cluster  ?  After 
all,  if  we  knew  more  of  the  style  of  a  bird's  under- 
wear we  might  understand  why  it  has  cut  its  frock  so. 
All  of  this  shows  how  very,  very  young  the  oldest  of 
our  modern  birds  are — that  is,  how  comparatively 
recent  many  of  their  modifications  have  been. 

Downs  now  seem  developed  on  birds  according  to 


ABOUT   A   BIRD'S   UNDERWEAR.  29 

their  needs,  though  some  doubtless  remain  as  a  heri- 
tance  from  a  past  condition,  as  those  on  the  helpless 
nestlings  of  hawks,  owls  and  others. 

Arctic  and  water  birds  have  the  downs  dense  and 
fine,  while  many  birds  of  southern  origin  have  them 
comparatively  scant.  In  those  young  birds  which 
run  at  once  from  the  nest  when  hatched  (precocial) 
the  down  is  found  in  great  abundance.  It  is  incased 
before  hatching  in  a  membranous  tube  to  keep  it  dry, 
but  this  soon  bursts  when  exposed  and  the  little  plumes 
expand,  making  the  chick  fluffy  and  comfortable. 

In  such  birds  as  remain  long  in  the  nest  after 
hatching  (altricial)  there  are  various  grades  of  the 
amount  of  nestling  down,  as  noted.  It  has  been  ob- 
served that  among  those  that  evidently  have  nested 
long  in  holes  (and  lay  white  eggs  usually)  the  young 
are  noticeably  naked.  They  have  no  need  of  swaddling 
clothes  when  so  well  protected.  On  the  contrary, 
some  of  such  birds  as  are  hatched  without  a  mother 
(megapodes)  leave  the  eggs  fully  feathered  and  ready 
for  flight,  having  doffed  their  down  while  in  the  shell. 

There  is  no  nestling,  however,  without  some  down 
at  hatching,  and  the  style  and  extent  of  a  little  bird's 
underwear  tend  at  once  to  indicate  whether  its  posi- 
tion be  high  or  low  in  feathered  society,  just  as  an 
American  Senator  is  said  once  to  have  exhibited  his 
night  robe  to  indicate  his  social  standing. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  skin  is  the  primary  outer  garment  of  every 
animal.  It  is  more  than  this.  It  is  a  very  important 
excretory  organ,  "the  largest  gland  in  the  body." 
Besides  this,  it  assists  the  lungs  in  reptiles  and  others 
in  oxidizing  the  blood.  To  the  lowest  creatures  it  is 
lungs,  stomachs,  legs  and  tentacles,  with  perhaps 
other  functions. 

But  it  has  been  more  than  this.  It  has  been  the 
source  to  all  organisms  of  their  greatest  progress. 
Every  class  of  creatures  has  moved  by  it,  every  form 
of  motion  has  employed  it — swimming,  crawling,  walk- 
ing, climbing,  flying — from  protozoon  to  mammal. 
Perhaps,  as  we  have  seen,  the  bird  itself  first  flew 
directly  by  means  of  it. 

But  it  has  been  more  than  this  even.  It  has  been 
the  great  builder  of  other  parts  of  the  body.  From 
the  waste  of  lime  it  shaped  the  shell  of  the  mollusc, 
and  formed  of  chitin  the  outside  skeletons  of  the  crus- 
taceans and  insects.  While  it  is  not  demonstrated 
that  the  backbone  had  a  dermal  origin,  as  it  may,  we 
know  the  appendicular  skeleton  of  toes  and  limbs  had 
its  origin  in  skin  folds  and  sank  inward  to  meet  the 

30 


A  BIRD'S  OUTER  WRAP.  31 

vertebra.  The  nervous  system  began  superficially, 
Spencer  thinks,  and  the  spinal  marrow  begins  on  the 
surface  in  embryos  now  as  a  flat  strap.  The  eye  and 
the  ear  (and  doubtless  other  organs)  began  superficially 
in  some  creatures,  and  yet  show  traces  often  of  the 
path  by  which  they  have  gone  inward. 

All  this  great  work  is  possible  to  the  skin  because 
of  its  exterior  position  exposing  it  so  much  to  the  ef- 
fects of  environment.  It  was  "  in  touch  "  with  every- 
thing and  plastic  to  every  demand  of  the  organism. 

After  the  inside  skeleton  was  formed,  it  demanded 
so  much  of  the  lime  and  magnesia  of  the  body  that 
the  skin  seems  to  have  had  at  first  little  material  out 
of  which  to  build  an  outside  skeleton  or  covering, 
though,  so  to  speak,  it  seems  to  have  turned  its  atten- 
tion that  way.  The  first  efforts  seem  to  have  been  by 
folds  or  thickenings  of  the  skin  itself.  These  folds 
formed  pockets  into  which  a  hornlike  substance — a 
new  material  which  appeared  to  dawn  with  the  back- 
bone— formed,  and  it  finally  grew  out  and  pierced  the 
outer  layer,  or  epidermis,  as  in  the  fish  scales.  The 
reptiles  have  in  most  cases  kept  the  primitive  skin 
fold,  rendered  horny  in  places,  as  best  suited  to  their 
haunts  and  habits,  but  many  amphibians  and  some 
fishes  have  lost  them  nearly  altogether,  or  had  them 
sink  again  beneath  the  surface. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  reptiles,  especially  the  bird- 
like,  upright  walkers,  may  have  burst  their  epidermis 
by  the  great  growth  of  their  scales,  as  the  feathers  of 
the  birds  do  now.  But  it  is  astonishing,  even  yet,  to 
note  in  birds  how  resisting  the  outer  skin  is,  as  though 


32  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

its  integrity  were  dying  hard  ;  for  the  papillae,  or 
points  out  of  which  the  feathers  grow,  rise  up  high, 
and  long  membranous  sheaths  follow  the  feathers  out 
as  much  as  an  inch  or  more  in  some  nestlings. 

By  this  rupture  of  the  epidermis  the  skin  ceased 
to  build  or  secrete  the  outside  skeleton  or  covering 
from  the  mere  surface,  but  grew  it  from  these  papillae, 
or  pockets  (representing  the  original  folds),  in  the 
form  of  scales,  feathers  and  fur.  Only  in  the  arma- 
dillos and  a  few  rodents,  where  excess  of  material 
must  have  prevailed,  did  Nature  in  any  high  animal 
tend  to  return  to  a  shell-like  covering. 

How  the  soft  condition  of  feathers  and  fur  came 
about  we  can  only  conjecture,  with  hardly  grounds 
for  that ;  only  we  feel  assured  that  it  was  at  the  de- 
mands of  warmth.  Hair  may  have  been  a  fibrous 
breaking  down  of  horny  scales,  since  we  know  now 
that  there  is  a  very  intimate  relation  between  horns 
and  hair.  Some  kinds  of  horns  are  made  of  hairs 
glued  together,  and  nearly  all  horns  are  skin  prod- 
ucts. 

Hairs,  or  similar  plumous  particles,  may  have 
arisen  on  the  new  scale  as  helpful  in  throwing  off  the 
old  skin  above  it — a  loosening  agent.  They  are 
found  now,  it  is  said,  performing  this  office  in  some 
snakes  and  crayfish.  Here  they  dry  down  hard  later. 
Possibly,  after  the  skin  was  punctured  by  the  scale, 
they  may  have  grown  out  with  it,  and  losing  their 
use  as  skin  looseners  (since  now  the  epidermis  was 
broken  up),  they  persist  as  part  of  the  outer  cov- 
ering. 


A  BIRD'S   OUTER  WRAP.  33 

It  is  necessary  still  to  slied  the  epidermis,  but 
birds  and  mammals  get  rid  of  it  in  particles  almost 
imperceptibly.  Some  penguins,  however,  are  said  to 
exhibit  the  old  reptilian  habit  by  shedding  theirs  in 
great  flakes  with  feathers  attached. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  originally  the  barrel  or 
toothpick  part  of  the  feather  was  flat,  and  that  the 
gradual  incurving  of  the  edges  finally  resulted  in 
welding  it  into  a  tube.  This  tube  thus  inclosed  a 
glandular  core,  which  nourishes  the  feather  till  it  cut 
itself  off  from  further  food  by  the  closing  of  the  lower 
end  of  the  barrel.  We  sometimes  call  the  dried-up 
cells  of  this  gland  "  the  pith." 

The  tubular  form  was  not  necessary  till  flight  be- 
gan, as  no  strain  could  previously  be  put  upon  the 
quills.  But  strain  demands  strength,  and  the  tubular 
form  is  the  strongest  arrangement  of  a  definite 
amount  of  material  consistent  also  with  lightness. 
Likewise,  until  flight  came,  the  development  of  the 
shaft  (the  rest  of  the  stem)  was  not  demanded.  The 
shaft,  however,  may  have  been  simply  the  result  of 
the  natural  growth  or  general  progress  of  the  feather 
beyond  the  surface.  The  downs,  which  appear  primi- 
tive now,  have  practically  no  shafts,  but  this  may  be 
the  result  of  degeneration. 

As  flight  has  influenced  so  much  the  structure  of 
feathers,  the  vanes  were  doubtless  at  first  flossy,  and 
perhaps  without  barbules,  or  little  side  vanes  upon 
the  vanes.  Thsse  were  subsequently  added  with 
hooks  to  hold  the  barbs  together  into  one  solid,  air- 
resisting  surface.  The  Archceopteryx,  the  most  primi- 


34  THE   STORY   OP  THE  BIRDS. 

tive  bird  known,  which  had  imperfect  and  yet  devel- 
oping means  of  flight,  had  even  its  wing  quills  flossy 
near  the  base  and  air-resisting  near  the  tips  only. 
The  modern  flyers  have  theirs  solid-vaned  nearly 
throughout. 

Since  air-tight  vanes  are  useful  to  keep  out  rain 
and  keep  in  warmth,  and  are  yet  found  on  the  tips  of 
nearly  all  body  or  contour  feathers,  it  might  appear 
that  the  barbules  developed  hooks  for  this  purpose. 
But  in  degenerate  birds,  as  the  apteryx  and  others, 
as  we  have  seen,  where  flight  has  ceased  the  plumage 
has  become  loose  and  flossy.  Also,  where  Nature  has 
provided  against  wind  and  water  she  has  usually  done 
it  with  plumous  feathers  and  dense  downs,  as  noticed 
in  the  aquatic  and  arctic  birds.  Still,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  hooked  condition  of  the  external  part 
of  feathers  adds  to  the  comfort,  and  yet  more  to  the 
prevention  of  friction  of  the  air  in  flight.  These 
hooks  and  barbules  (and  even  the  barbs)  are  further 
modified  or  entirely  lost  at  other  demands,  such  as 
touch,  hearing,  noiseless  flight,  water  resisting,  etc., 
but  more  especially  in  keeping  with  ornaments  by 
shape  and  structure  of  plumage. 

Upon  the  bird's  outer  wrap,  as  we  have  seen,  Na- 
ture has  wrought  some  of  the  most  skillful  of  her 
handiwork,  hinting  in  the  garment's  frayings  the  story 
of  the  wearer,  writing  in  hieroglyphs  of  color  upon 
the  surface  something  of  its  hopes  and  fears,  and  in 
the  plainer  blotchings  spelling  out  its  haunts  and 
habits. 

So,  likewise,  in  various  stages  of  the  suit's  acquisi- 


A  BIRD'S  OUTER  WRAP.  35 

tion  she  may  shadow  certain  epochs  in  the  bird's  great 
past,  but  writing  upon  top  of  writing  may  make  the 
old  manuscript  hard  to  read. 

Here,  in  the  downy  young  of  some  species  that  are 
now  water  or  shore  haunters  purely,  the  little  coat  is 
striped  longitudinally  as  if  the  race  had  once  been 
grass  hunters,  as  the  grouses  and  partridges  are  yet ; 
and  there  among  some  that  are  more  terrestrial  now  and 
slightly  striped  as  adults  is  the  solid-colored  downy 
youngster  that  tells  of  a  watery  past.  (See  cut  of 
land  rails.) 

Mottled  feathers  on  the  young  where  the  old  birds 
are  now  solid-colored  shadow  a  time  when  they  flat- 
tened themselves  upon  the  pebbly  beach,  perhaps  to 
escape  discovery;  and  the  drabbish  grays  hint  of 
dead-grass  hiding.  The  brown  chestnuts  in  the  adult, 
as  in  the  quail  and  ruffed  grouse,  tell  of  a  long  ances- 
try among  the  dead  leaves  under  deciduous  trees. 
Peculiar  corklike  and  black  mottlings,  especially  on 
the  back,  are  signs  of  a  habit  of  tree-trunk  climbing, 
as  upon  the  brown  creeper,  or  at  least  of  rough  bark, 
as  a  back-ground  for  the  setting,  as  in  the  owls. 

All  these  are  tinged  with  the  very  emotions  of  the 
creature  :  the  fear  of  the  enemy  that  flew  above,  or 
the  caution  of  the  prey  that  crouched  beneath. 

More  than  this.  Doubtless  for  the  sake  of  ex- 
pressing more,  Nature  has  stained,  with  pigments  of 
brighter  hues,  the  bird's  outer  wrap,  tinting  it  here 
and  leaving  it  untouched  there,  as  if  with  a  painter's 
art,  and  burnishing,  carving,  and  grating  it  here,  and 
leaving  it  untouched  there,  as  if  with  a  graver's  skill ; 


36  THE   STORY   OP  THtf  BIRDS. 

so  that  exquisite  patterns  and  delicate  blendings  may 
prevail  and  dazzling  splendors  may  flash  out  for 
purpose.  But  that  is  another  topic. 

If  we  could  read  all  that  is  written  upon  the  outer 
wrap  we  should  have  much  of  the  story  of  the  birds, 
for  they  have  made  "  broad  their  phylacteries,"  like 
the  Pharisees,  and  enlarged  the  fringes  of  their  gar- 
ments, in  keeping  with  much  of  their  past. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  BIRD'S  NEW  SUIT. 

ALL  birds  get  new  suits  at  least  once  a  year, 
changing  in  the  fall.  Some  change  in  the  spring 
also,  either  partially  or  wholly,  while  others  have  as 
many  as  three  changes — perhaps,  to  a  slight  extent,  a 
few  more. 

The  first  class  often  have  only  one  style  of  color 
the  year  through,  though  we  shall  see  that  this  is  not 
always  the  case ;  the  second  don  a  sort  of  wedding 
garment  in  the  spring,  or  put  bright  patches  of  color 
or  special  trimmings  or  ornaments  upon  the  old  suit ; 
while  the  third  dress  rather  to  suit  the  surroundings, 
as  the  ptarmigans.  This  latter  class  also  put  on  frills 
and  stains  by  means  of  these  changes,  and  all  sorts  of 
gradations  are  found  between  the  classes. 

It  seems  now  that  the  manner  and  frequency  of 
changing  the  dress  is  something  that  has  been  easily 
modified  in  the  past,  since  we  find,  as  Mr.  Darwin 
notes,  that  the  number  and  manner  of  molts  vary 
strikingly  in  birds  that  are  near  akin  and  apparently 
much  alike  in  habits.  Like  colors,  molt  seems  to  have 
been  readily  influenced  by  external  conditions.  The 
spring  molt  is  often  only  partial — a  patch  or  a  plume 

37 


38  THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 

here  and  there.  Precocial  birds,  which  leave  the  nest 
at  once,  shoot  out  their  wing  quills  before  grown,  in 
keeping  with  the  demands  of  safety  in  their  exposed 
conditions,  and  they  get  a  new  and  better  set  later. 
Altricial  birds  wait  till  they  are  nearly  grown  to  ac- 
quire their  wing  quills  (fit  for  flight),  and  do  not 
usually  renew  them  that  season.  In  some  species 
some  ornamental  plumes  also  are  shed  in  a  few 
weeks  after  they  are  acquired,  long  before  the  nor- 
mal fall  molt,  while  other  plumes  are  worn  the  year 
around. 

The  fall  molt  seems  necessary  on  account  of  the 
wear  and  fading  of  the  plumage,  brought  about  by  the 
business  of  the  year,  and,  as  Darwin  suggests,  in  keep- 
ing with  the  demands  of  warmth  for  the  coming  win- 
ter. Incidentally  with  it  often  go  the  heavy  plumes 
acquired  in  the  nesting  season,  but,  as  noted,  not  al- 
ways. Since  we  are  sure  that  many  of  these  orna- 
ments are  of  comparatively  recent  origin,  the  getting 
rid  of  these  could  not  be  the  purpose  of  the  autumnal 
change. 

While  we  may  feel  that  the  purpose  of  the  spring 
molt  is  ornament,  and  that  the  object  of  intermediate 
molts  is  protective  coloring,  yet  we  are  hopelessly  in 
the  dark  about  how  these  changes  of  suit  were  origi- 
nally brought  about  or  why  a  change  should  so  fre- 
quently result  so  suddenly  in  a  new  color. 

The  molts  may  have  originated,  of  course,  in  the 
necessity  for  repair,  as  noted  ;  for  it  is  well  known 
that  there  can  be  as  many  renewals  of  the  feather  as 
there  are  losses,  so  that  (within  the  limits  of  the  bird's 


Louisiana  water  thrush. 


A  BIRD'S  NEW  SUIT.  39 

strength)  there  can  be  any  number  of  molts,  depend- 
ing upon  demands. 

But  why  there  should  be  such  an  intimate  connec- 
tion between  change  of  dress  and  change  of  color  is 
a  matter  not  so  evident,  as  it  is  that  certain  of  these 
molts  noiv  are  for  the  purpose  of  changing  either  the 
shape  or  color  of  the  feathers  for  certain  ends,  as 
ornament,  safety,  etc. 

In  some  birds  (for  instance,  our  red- headed  wood- 
pecker) there  are  certain  spots,  or  series  of  spots,  form- 
ing bars  that  tend  to  cross  the  wing,  say,  in  the  first 
plumage,  but  extend  more  completely  across  it  in  the 
next.  The  spot  in  the  first  case  may  be  upon  one  vane 
only  of  a  wing  quill  in  the  young  of  the  year,  and  extend 
over  the  other  vane  during  the  next  season  ;  and  until 
the  molt  occurs  there  may  be  no  change  in  the  size 
and  outline  of  these  spots.  There  are  innumerable 
instances  of  this  sort  of  thing  with  all  degrees  of  gra- 
dation between  the  incomplete  and  the  complete  state, 
where  rows  of  spots  merge  into  lines,  and  where, 
working  the  other  way,  lines  break  up  into  spots. 
These  are  dependent,  as  seen  in  the  last  chapter,  upon 
the  past  habits  of  the  bird.  These  young  water 
thrushes  and  song  sparrows  are  less  spotted  below 
than  the  adults,  but  young  snowbirds  (junco)  and 
robins  are  more  marked  than  their  parents. 

It  is  claimed  by  some  that  now  all  new  colors 
are  acquired  by  molt,  and  by  others  that  in  some 
instances  (young  hawks)  an  infusion  or  loss,  as  the 
case  may  be,  of  pigment  takes  place  as  the  feather 
forms,  and  continues  so  long  as  it  grows.  The  battle 


40  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

is  now  on  about  the  matter.  Whatever  may  be  the 
case  now,  the  impression  can  not  but  arise  that  the 
gradual  infusion  of  color  must  have  prevailed  at  one 
time,  and  that  both  methods  may  obtain  together  yet ; 
for  we  shall  see  that  some  new  colors  are  acquired  by 
the  joint  effect  of  molt  and  the  fraying  off  of  the 
feather  tips. 

Nature  now  is  often  a  great  shortener  of  processes 
that  were  once  doubtless  tedious,  and  changes  were 
likely  hurried  up  here  as  elsewhere.  In  some  tree- 
toads  that  never  go  near  the  water  to  hatch  their 
eggs,  the  young  pass  through  the  tadpole  state  while 
in  the  egg,  and  some  omit  it  altogether — a  remarkable 
hurrying-up  process ;  and  in  connection  with  our 
present  topic  we  have  seen  that  some  birds  (brush 
turkeys)  pass  one  molt  before  they  are  hatched,  be- 
cause of  the  emergency  of  quick  flight  at  the  demands 
of  the  parentless  condition. 

Likewise  this  process  of  coloration  by  molt  can 
now  be  hurried  up  in  such  young  birds  as  have  a 
change  of  color.  By  plucking  out  the  present  feather, 
the  new  one  grows  out  at  once  in  keeping  with  the 
hue  and  pattern  of  the  next  molt,  which  would  have 
occurred  normally  some  months  hence.  Thus  we 
may  see  a  possible  suggestion  of  the  purpose  of 
extra  molts,  and  how,  after  this  law  was  once  es- 
tablished, some  of  the  color  changes  may  have  come 
about. 

It  takes  some  birds  yet  as  many  as  five  years  to 
acquire  complete  adult  plumage ;  and  the  various 
changes  which  they  pass  through  are  found  to  depend 


A  BIRD'S  NEW  SUIT.  41 

upon  food,  climate,  and  environment  generally.  It 
may  be  shown  also  that  color  depends  upon  the  same 
thing,  since  some  birds  that  have  color  in  the  wild 
state,  show  no  tint  of  it  when  confined.  Color  and 
molt,  therefore,  may  in  part  have  come  out  of  the 
same  conditions. 

Their  development,  however,  has  been  so  gradual 
that  the  maturity  of  the  birds  frequently  outruns  the 
maturity  of  the  apparel,  and  they  marry  and  rear 
families  while  yet  in  their  baby  clothes. 

Since  there  is  such  an  intimate  relation,  as  can  be 
noticed  in  any  animal,  between  vigor  and  color,  it  can 
be  seen  how  unknown  physiological  agencies  (such 
as  congestions  brought  about  by  pressure,  use,  etc.) 
may  have  been  set  up  which  have  produced  changes 
in  the  whole  texture  and  life  of  the  feather  through 
conditions  of  the  feather-growing  follicle  or  pocket. 
Out  of  this  crests,  plumes,  and  other  abnormal  struc- 
tures, along  with  the  presence  or  absence  of  pigment, 
may  have  come ;  and  they  may  have  been  subsequent- 
ly intensified  by  selection  and  heredity.  Thus  it  is 
well  known  that  if  the  skin  follicles  of  a  colored 
bird  or  mammal  be  injured  at  a  certain  place  the 
feathers  or  hairs  come  in  there  again  white ;  that  if 
an  ostrich  plume  be  twisted  in  pulling,  thus  twisting 
the  pocket,  a  twisted  plume  will  ever  after  grow  from 
it ;  that  if  certain  parts  of  the  skin  of  some  birds  be 
anointed  with  certain  substances  the  feathers  at  the 
next  molt  come  in  having  a  different  and  abnormal 
color  ;  and  that  the  Javanese  and  other  Eastern  peo- 
ples have  learned  the  art  of  preventing  the  molt  of 


42  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

certain  feathers  (on  certain  birds),  whereby  they  grow 
to  immense  length. 

As  hinted,  Nature  has  rather  recently  given  some 
birds  a  paradoxical  method  of  acquiring  a  new  suit  by 
wearing  out  its  old  one.  What  a  convenient  thing 
that  would  be  for  some  of  the  rest  of  us  ! 

Much  of  the  colors  of  a  bird's  feathers — or  the 
brilliancy  rather — is  on  the  tips  only.  Beneath,  fre- 
quently a  contrasting  color  may  prevail.  Some  of 
these  tips  fray  easily  or  are  actually  shed — often  in 
certain  places  only.  This  wear  allows  the  color  be- 
neath to  show,  The  male  English  sparrow  gets  his 
black  throat  patch  largely  in  this  way,  and  the  male 
bobolink  puts  on  his  wedding  garment  by  taking  off 
his  traveling  suit,  though  he  has  a  spring  molt  also. 
Likewise  some  birds  with  faint  external  tints  lose 
them  in  this  manner,  and  some  young  birds  get  a  new 
shape  to  the  extremities  of  the  flight  quills  thus. 

There  are  some  other  evidences  that  Nature  has 
changed  her  first  method  of  giving  the  bird  a  new 
suit.  Now,  usually  the  old  feather  closes  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  barrel,  and,  shutting  itself  off  from  nutri- 
ment, it  really  ceases  to  grow  and  falls  out ;  but,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  nestling  downs,  which  probably 
type  a  very  primitive  state,  are  not  so  closed,  but  are 
pushed  out  on  the  tips  of  the  forming  adult  feathers 
or  adult  downs.  This  is  the  case  in  all  the  subsequent 
molts  of  the  cassowaries,  which  go  about  for  a  while 
with  their  old  suit  raggedly  hanging  to  their  new  one. 

Molt  therefore  may,  primarily,  have  begun  as  a 
renewal  process  rather  than  a  destructive  one,  de- 


A  BIRD'S  NEW  SUIT.  43 

pendent  not  upon  the  falling  of  the  old  feather,  but 
upon  vigor  of  growth  infused  into  the  new. 

The  still  more  ancient  and  reptilian  method  of 
shedding  the  skin  and  feathers  in  flakes,  as  is  said  to 
be  the  case  with  some  penguins,  has  been  referred  to, 
and  doubtless  indicates  a  still  more  remote  manner 
that  the  birds  had  of  changing  costumes. 

If  we  knew  why  they  have  been  so  freakish  in 
their  fashions  we  should  know  more  of  their  history. 
Over  it  all  there  now  seems  to  run  a  law  of  pattern 
affecting  the  nutrition  and  structure  of  the  follicle, 
the  falling  of  the  feather,  the  fraying  of  the  tip,  the 
pigmentation  of  the  vane,  the  microscopic  grating  and 
filmy  glossing  of  the  very  barbules,  to  aid  the  bird  in 
putting  on  a  new  suit  that  shall  become  the  occasion. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 


IN  the  previous  chapter  something  has  been  said 
of  how  these  are  put  on,  but  in  this  the  reason  for  it 
is  talked  about.  Ornament  prevails  throughout  Na- 
ture. Much  of  it  may  be  incidental  to  the  mere  form 
and  structure  of  the  material,  but  its  existence  for 
purpose  can  not  well  be  denied.  Its  voluntary  dis- 
play is  very  evident  in  the  birds.  Display  argues  ap- 
preciation, at  least  as  expected  if  not  given ;  and 
appreciation  implies  choice  and  desire  to  possess. 
Thus  love  and  beauty  have  come  down  the  ages  hand 
in  hand. 

Ornament  is  not  confined  to  any  part  of  the  body. 
Choice  has  no  law.  Nothing  is  more  freakish.  It  is 
a  law  unto  itself.  Some  persons  marry  for  face ;  oth- 
ers for  form.  While  one  indites  a  "  ballad  to  his 
mistress's  eyebrow,"  another  raves  over  the  arch  of 
her  instep.  It  is  so  with  the  birds.  Ornamentation 
may  run  from  beak  to  toe,  according  to  the  fancy, 
doubtless,  of  the  chooser  or  admirer. 

In  the  charming  season  some  feathered  Juliet  may 
be  ravished  by  the  lengthened  beak  of  her  Eomeo,  as  , 
in  some  finches ;  or  by  the  extra  pieces  he  has  piled 

44 


I 


1 

bij 

1 
f§ 


"  PUTTING   ON   PAINT  AND   FRILLS."  45 

upon  it,  or  by  the  novel  frills  he  has  given  the  loose 
skin  at  the  corner  of  his  mouth,  as  in  some  auks ;  or 
by  the  congested  warts,  wattles,  and  snout-like  ap- 
pendages about  his  head  and  the  bright  hues  of  the 
skin  around  them,  as  in  the  turkeys  and  pheasants. 

Nudity  is  used  by  birds  aesthetically,  but  much 
more  limitedly  than  in  the  average  art  gallery. 

Others  are  delighted  by  plumous  crests,  trains, 
etc.,  and  the  much  spreading  of  the  tails  and  wings, 
often  when  they  are  not  remarkably  colored.  Oth- 
ers still  among  "the  sex"  seem  humorously  influ- 
enced into  a  tenderer  state  by  antics,  sometimes  con- 
nected with  the  display  of  ornament  and  sometimes 
not,  as  if  he  who  made  the  biggest  clown  of  himself 
was  the  favored  suitor.  Her  appreciation  of  this  sort 
of  "  being  agreeable "  is  often  more  demonstrative 
than  that  of  any  other,  for  she  joins  in  the  fun  and 
plays  back  at  the  charmer  with  a  sort  of  Barkislike 
willingness.  In  other  cases  she  may  be  so  apathetic 
as  to  simply  stand  by  while  she  is  being  fought  for, 
and  is  led  off  by  the  victor,  whose  ornaments  seem 
only  to  have  served  the  purpose  of  exasperating  his 
rival.  This  is  strikingly  noticeable  in  the  male  tur- 
key's hatred  of  brilliant  colors,  especially  red. 

Nevertheless,  color  is  certainly  the  most  general 
and  the  most  refined  form  of  ornamentation.  It  also, 
like  change  of  shape,  may  occur  anywhere  on  the 
bird.  The  tip  of  the  beak  may  be  tinted  or  its  entire 
length  may  be  crossed  with  colored  bars  in  the  charm- 
ing season  only.  Above  the  eye  a  colored  scale  may 
shoot  out,  as  in  the  ptarmigan  (which  his  rival  at- 


46  THE   STORY   OF   THE  BIRDS. 

tempts  to  pluck  away),  or  even  the  iris  may  turn  red, 
green,  or  golden.  The  inflated  air  sacs  may  be  beauti- 
fully orange,  and  the  usually  dull-hued  feet  may  grow 
pink  or  yellow,  blue  or  greenish — even  banded  in 
some  cases,  like  striped  hose. 

But  the  greatest  display  of  color  is  well  known 
to  be  upon  the  plumage.  Here  the  mere  act  of  stain- 
ing runs  nearly  the  entire  spectrum,  but,  not  content 
with  this,  ornamentation  again  dominates  structure 
and  provokes  polish  and  general  prismatic  effects  till 
pigment  is  merely  subservient  to  splendor,  and  the 
love  for  distinct  hues  yields  to  the  beauty  of  their 
blending. 

Many  of  the  brilliant  gorgets  of  the  humming 
birds  and  others,  viewed  with  the  proper  angle,  give 
any  or  all  the  colors  of  the  spectrum. 

Brilliancy  seems  always  to  have  been  progressive. 
Birds  grow  yearly  more  aesthetic.  There  is  little,  if 
any,  evidence  that  any  bird  has  ever  receded  one  step 
from  ornamentation  or  dressed  in  duller  hues  after 
having  once  been  brilliant.  With  only  a  few  known 
exceptions,  no  young  bird  is  more  brilliant  than  its 
most  brilliant  parent,  thus  not  indicating  degenera- 
tion of  color.  There  are  some  cases  of  one  color  hav- 
ing been  substituted  for  another.  Some  have  changed 
the  style  of  ornamentation  for  a  better  one ;  some,  as 
the  thrushes  and  others,  have  lost  spots  which  were 
incidentally  ornamental,  perhaps,  but  not  selected  or 
appreciated  by  its  mate  as  such. 

It  seems  the  more  remarkable  since,  as  we  shall 
see  later  (Chapter  XXIX),  in  many  other  respects 


"PUTTING  ON   PAINT   AND   FRILLS."  47 

most  birds  have  degenerated,  to  some  extent.  Their 
feathers  also,  as  we  have  seen,  have  degenerated,  but 
rarely,  if  ever,  at  the  expense  of  ornament,  and  per- 
haps nearly  always  to  enhance  it.  Beautiful  downs, 
plumes,  and  remarkable  structural  effects,  as  in  pea- 
cocks, lyre  birds  and  others,  are  the  results  of  degen- 
eration. 

Birds  do  not  appear  to  give  up  their  ornaments 
for  safety  even.  They  are  there  by  beauty  as  the  Mo- 
hammedan is  by  his  beard  or  the  Chinaman  by  his 
pigtail :  better  die  than  lose  caste.  Doubtless  many 
species  have  been  swamped,  "  like  other  people,"  by 
"  putting  on  too  many  frills."  It  is  easy  to  see  how 
such  a  bird  as  our  peacock,  cumbered  as  he  is,  would 
easily  fall  a  victim  to  a  newly  introduced  adept 
enemy,  as  a  fox,  for  instance. 

Arrangement  for  protection  (by  natural  selection 
or  otherwise),  such  as  mimicry  of  haunt,  may  slightly 
rearrange  the  plume,  or  cut  the  patch  of  color  into 
an  imitating  pattern,  or  push  it  a  little  around  out  of 
sight,  but  the  law  is  that  it  must  not  eliminate  it. 
The  two  interests  may  be  combined,  however.  A 
certain  night  hawk  has  two  beautiful  wing  plumes 
which  it  sheds  after  the  nesting  season.  It  roosts 
on  the  ground,  and  they  project  up  and  resemble  the 
grass  plumes  among  which  it  squats,  and  they  are  thus 
protective.  The  patterns  of  the  beautiful  chestnut 
parts  of  the  woodcock  and  some  partridges  mimic 
well  the  dead  leaves ;  and  the  black  breast  spot  on  the 
wrybill  (which,  with  a  beak  bent  to  the  right,  feeds 
around  stones  in  the  water  always  with  the  same  side 


48  THE  STORY   OP  THE   BIRDS. 

inward)  is  pushed  considerably  from  the  left  to  make 
it  less  conspicuous. 

It  is  "  beauty  ever  onward  "  with  the  birds.  In 
this  they  are  ahead  of  us,  for  we  have  had  our  lapses 
into  dark  periods  in  art. 

As  to  the  origin  of  choice,  which  seems  so  mysteri- 
ous and  freakish,  it  does  not  appear  unreasonable  that 
some  of  it  may  not  have  arisen  as  a  matter  of  associa- 
tion, as  suggested  by  Grant  Allen,  though  the  idea  is 
usually  ridiculed.  If  a  bird  delights  in  a  certain  bril- 
liant fruit,  leaf,  or  bud,  the  chance  presence  of  a  sim- 
ilar color,  markings,  or  shape  in  her  mate,  especially 
if  displayed  in  a  love  antic,  may  cause  her  to  like  him 
better  than  a  suitor  without  the  resemblance ;  and  in- 
heritance would  easily  intensify  all  this.  The  splen- 
dor of  the  hummers  and  of  other  tropical  birds  may 
possibly  be  thus  accounted  for.  Perhaps  the  original 
turkey's  snout-like  appendage  above  his  beak  may 
have  suggested  to  his  mate  a  luscious  worm. 

There  is  only  one  instance  where  ornament  in 
birds  takes  on  a  pictorial  or  perspective  effect — the 
well-known  ball-and-socket  arrangement  of  the  Argus 
pheasant.  Here  is  an  instance  where  color  has  per- 
haps been  lost,  to  a  slight  extent,  for  this  higher  artis- 
tic effect  of  shade  and  perspective.  Mr.  Darwin  has 
ingeniously  shown  that  these  balls  in  black  and  white 
have  been  formed  by  the  merging  of  slightly  chest- 
nut-colored spots.  Now,  this  may  have  arisen  by  a 
fancied  resemblance,  at  least  in  the  estimation  of  the 
female,  of  these  balls  to  some  form  of  nut  of  which 
she  was  fond.  When  the  male  displays  them,  he 


"PUTTING  ON   PAINT  AND  FRILLS."  49 

quivers  the  wing  till  the  balls  seem  to  dance  in  their 
sockets,  perhaps  resembling  some  seed  shaking  in  its 
hull  or  some  berry  quivering  in  its  husk,  thus  arous- 
ing pleasant  associations,  till  the  bird,  like  some  others, 
loved  her  lover  because  he  "  looked  nice  enough  to 
eat." 

It  is  difficult,  of  course,  to  see  how  female  choice 
should  be  so  delicate  as  to  be  influenced  by  the  finest 
shades  of  color  and  shape,  as  indicated  in  the  forma- 
tion of  these  "  eyes  "  in  the  pheasant's  tail  or  those  in 
the  tail  of  the  peacock.  Often,  especially  in  such  low 
birds  as  these,  where  splendor  and  weapons  both  pre- 
vail, the  female  seems  quite  indifferent  while  the  bat- 
tle or  display  prevails,  and  she  is  won  by  the  law  of 
battle  or  persistence  of  pursuit  alone. 

It  may  be  that  variations  of  color  were  set  up 
originally  (by  laws  that  we  do  not  understand)  inde- 
pendent of  any  choice,  and  have  been  intensified  rather 
by  food,  climate,  health,  and  vigor  generally,  as  we 
saw  in  the  last  chapter,  until  selection  by  the  female 
of  the  brightest,  healthiest,  and  most  vigorous  or  suc- 
cessful in  battle  would  tend  to  bring  color  onward  in 
the  males  up  to  the  point  where  it  stood  not  as  an  ex- 
pression of  beauty,  but  simply  as  the  sign  of  all  that 
was  desirable  in  a  wooer  otherwise. 

It  is  well  known,  of  course,  that  Mr.  Darwin  held 
that  all  these  ornaments  were  brought  about  by  the 
aesthetic  appreciation  and  choice  of  the  female.  This 
view  is  now  rather  generally  accepted,  but  there  are  a 
few  thinkers  to  whom  it  does  not  seem  probable.  This 
•is  no  place  for  this  discussion,  for  or  against,  but  to 


50  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

the  student  of  birds  there  is  shown  much  that  implies 
that  ornaments  and  their  display  are  large  factors  in 
courtship. 

Whether  or  not  choice  always  is  influenced  by  or- 
namentation when  the  female  selects  a  partner  for  the 
season,  it  is  certain  that  it  is  often  present  and  flaunted 
in  a  very  conspicuous  way. 

There  are  some  striking  evidences  of  appreciation 
of  ornament  among  birds.  The  female  "  widow " 
bird  is  said  to  desert  her  mate  if  he  loses  his  orna- 
ments. Whiddah  bird  is  the  proper  name,  but 
"  widow "  bird  is  colloquial,  doubtless  on  account  of 
the  resemblance  in  sound.  It  is  not  likely  that  her 
disposition  to  make  a  "  grass  widow "  of  herself  in 
this  way  has  anything  to  do  with  it.  Other  instances 
might  be  noted,  but  perhaps  those  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  courting  tactics  of  the  bower  and 
garden  birds,  where  neat  runways,  green,  moss-cov- 
ered, gardenlike  little  lawns,  ornamented  with  vari- 
ous bright  objects,  enable  a  very  plain  bird  to  show 
his  sweetheart  pretty  things,  and  to  soften  her  feel- 
ings by  the  aesthetic  influence  of  these  and  by  pretty 
mazy  motions  over,  through,  and  near  them. 

Sometimes  it  is  the  female  that  is  attractively  col- 
ored, whereupon  she  does  the  wooing — making  a  dis- 
play of  her  pretty  parts,  performing  antics,  wearing 
the  spurs,  and  doing  the  fighting  and  screaming  in  a 
very  modern  fashion,  while  her  literally  henpecked 
husband  does  the  incubating  and  rears  the  family 
with  a  meekness  that  should  inherit  all  the  dry 
land  of  the  planet.  The  new  woman  was  here  in' 


XvTBFT 
, 

(    UNIVf 
X. 


Bobolink,   showing    brilliant   black    and  buff  male   and    sparrowlike, 
inconspicuous  female. 


"PUTTING  ON   PAINT  AND   FRILLS/'  51 

feathers  a  long  time  before  she  arrived  in  baggy  pan- 
taloons. 

This  state  is  found  in  low  birds,  however,  instead 
of  high  ones — an  experiment  tried  and  rejected  before 
any  great  aesthetic  progress  was  made  by  our  feath- 
ered neighbors. 

It  is  much  more  frequent,  however,  that  the  mates 
of  brilliant  males  are  plain,  or  even  somber  in  their 
dress.  Color  has  progressed  in  one  sex  only.  It  is 
usually  considered  that  females  are  kept  back  from 
brilliancy  for  the  sake  of  safety  while  incubating,  thus 
not  being  conspicuous ;  and  a  series  of  interesting 
considerations  come  in  here  concerning  the  relation 
between  color  of  bird,  style  of  nest,  and  markings  of 
eggs,  which  the  limits  of  this  little  book  prevents  us 
from  discussing.  An  instance  showing  plumage  vari- 
ation in  the  sexes  is  given  in  the  illustration  of  the 
bobolink. 

Many  bright-hued  and  conspicuous  males,  how- 
ever, now  assist  their  mates  in  sitting ;  but  this  may  be 
a  recent  habit,  permitted  by  greater  safety  on  account 
of  the  changed  conditions,  brought  about  by  the  dis- 
appearance of  some  former  enemy,  and  induced  by  a 
tendency  to  progress  in  helping  his  mate. 

That  in  many  cases  where  the  two  sexes  differ  in 
splendor  it  is  the  color  of  the  female  which  is  primi- 
tive is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  young  male  is  apt 
to  look  like  his  mamma  at  first,  hinting  a  time  when 
the  sexes  were  alike.  In  other  cases,  where  there 
was  no  danger,  the  female  has  also  become  brilliant, 
perhaps  because  of  change  of  nesting  and  other  habits, 


52  THE  STORY   OF  THE   BIRDS. 

which  have  permitted  her  also  to  acquire  or  inherit 
color  with  safety. 

Birds  not  only  change  their  habits,  as  we  shall  see 
(Chapters  XXIII  and  XXIX),  but  they  actually  have 
exhibited  some  aesthetic  or  moral  progress,  a  question 
the  special  discussion  of  which  we  shall  again  have  to 
pass  over. 

A  great  deal  of  the  story  of  the  birds  is  involved 
in  why  they  put  on  "  paint  and  frills." 


CHAPTER  X. 

COLOR    CALLS    AMONG    THE    BIRDS. 

THIS  is  an  age  of  badges  and  uniforms.  Every 
society  has  its  ribbon,  every  college  its  "colors." 
Nations  have  long  had  their  flags,  and  armies  their 
banners.  Still  we  are  much  behind  the  times  in  all 
this  compared  with  the  birds  and  mammals. 

Nature  has  always  been  concerned  about  the  race, 
and  seems  to  have  cared  for  the  individual  only  as  a 
means  of  preserving  the  species. 

The  first  form  of  natural  increase  was  doubtless 
the  sacrifice  of  individuality  only,  as  when  a  simple 
cell  fissured  into  two.  Here  was  the  possibility  of 
immortality.  But  later  she  demanded  the  sacrifice  of 
life  also  to  build  a  higher  organism,  as  when  the 
young  budded  out  and  broke  away  and  left  the 
mother  a  shapeless,  helpless  trunk  ;  or  burst  forth  and 
left  her  a  lifeless  sac.  Later  still,  as  the  organism  grows 
higher,  both  life  and  individuality  are  spared  awhile 
to  cherish  the  offspring — to  subject  the  parent  to  the 
great  laws  of  love  and  labor. 

But  altruism  had  a  higher  mission  still  than  the  re- 
lation of  parent  and  children.  Parental  interest,  after 
all,  is  a  selfish  one,  for  it  is  exercised  toward  a  part 

53 


54:  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

of  self.  But  society  interests  were  also  developed,  in 
which  every  individual  was  made  in  some  sense  his 
brother's  keeper.  Wonderful  social  instincts  were 
organized  among  insects,  fishes,  birds,  and  mammals. 
With  these  came  voluntary  social  calls,  so  frequently 
noted  in  the  chirps  of  birds.*  These  naturally  grew 
out  of  mother  calls  and  nestling  cries  for  food,  and 
out  of  their  little  by-talks. 

But  Nature  was  not  content  yet !  An  individual 
might  forget  his  social  duties,  as  many  individuals 
have.  Where  these  are  necessary  for  the  good  of 
the  race  she  has  made  them  involuntary.  She  has 
fastened  them  upon  external  features  so  indelibly 
that  a  mother  unconsciously  calls  her  young  and  a 
frightened  member  of  a  flock  mechanically  warns  and 
guides  his  following  fellows.  She  has  made  altruism 
automatic  by  habits  crystallized  in  structure  and  by 
calls  and  cheers  that  are  dyed  in  color.  In  some 
cases  she  has  made  the  bird  almost  literally  "  wear  his 
heart  upon  his  sleeve." 

Usually  these  are  on  fleeing,  flocking,  defenseless 
creatures.  Antelopes  are  social,  crepuscular,  depend- 
ing on  flight  for  safety,  and  usually  have  a  leader. 
They  are  conspicuously  white  in  the  rear,  that  those 
following  the  weaker  brothers  may  be  guided  into 
safety.  The  mother  hides  her  young,  and,  returning 
to  it,  presents  a  broad  white  breast  mark  as  a  maternal 
signal.  Similarly  the  deer  hoists  a  white  tail,  and  the 
cottony  patch  of  the  rabbit  answers  the  same  purpose. 

But  the  hare's  is  a  sadder  story.  Now  he  is  soli- 
tary and  selfish.  Once  he  was  (like  the  European 


COLOR  CALLS  AMONG  THE   BIRDS. 


55 


rabbit),  perhaps,  an  exemplary  parent  and  brother,  and 
led  his  little  family  around  and  guided  it  in  safety  to 
the  burrow.     But  now  his  altruism  is 
only  a  vestige.    He  has  become  trav- 
eled and  selfish,  and  learned  to 
make  a  tramplike  bed  for  each 
night's  rest  in  a  new  re- 
gion.      Farther    away 
from  home  (out  West 
and  South)  the  cottony 
signal  is  growing  dull, 
and  Nature  stamps  on 
his  very  fur  the  ten- 
dency of  his  feelings. 
Birds  strikingly  ex- 
hibit these  social  or  sig- 
nal colors  on  various  parts 
of  the  body.     They  may 
be  conspicuous  head  mark- 
ings, as   in   some   plovers ; 
throat  patches,  as  in  our  Bob- 
white  and  wild  (Canada)  goose ; 
rump  spots,  as  in  the  flicker  or 
lapwing  ;  various  tail  spots,  tips, 
or  blotches,  or  the  entire  whiteness  of  one  or  more 
tail  feathers ;  wholly  or  partially  white  feathers  among 
the  wing  quills,  or  white  blotches  or  bars  upon  the 
smaller  feathers  of  the  wing — more  conspicuous  usu- 
ally when  spread  in  flight.     There  are  many  other 
forms — the  entire  wing  or  back  or  some  other  part 
being  conspicuous. 


Lapwing. 


56  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

When  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  bird  to  be  incon- 
spicuous while  perching,  these  marks  may  be  entirely 
concealed,  as  in  the  white  rump  patch  of  the  flicker, 
which  is  usually  hidden  by  the  closed  wings  ;  or  in 
the  white  outer  tail  feathers  of  the  snowbirds  and 
others,  which,  except  when  spread  in  flight,  are  hid- 
den under  the  others. 

Other  birds  are  white  beneath  and  protectively 
colored  above.  The  "teetering"  of  the  little  "tip- 
up"  sandpipers  is  doubtless  the  vestige  of  a  signal 
wrought  in  the  display  of  white  underwear  with  the 
"peek-a-boo"  up-and-down  motion.  From  above 
their  colors  harmonize  with  their  haunt. 

These  "  recognition  colors  "  may  be  also  modified 
or  used  for  ornament,  since  many  of  them  are  more 
conspicuous  in  males  than  females,  as  in  Bobwhite, 
the  English  sparrow,  and  others.  In  fact,  Mr.  Wallace, 
who  first  emphasized  these  markings  as  thus  useful, 
thought  that  the  purpose  of  all  brilliancy  and  pe- 
culiar patterns  in  the  males  might  be  simply  recog- 
nition markings,  whereby  the  feathered  maiden  might 
know  her  beau  when  she  saw  him  ;  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  primarily  brilliant  colors  were  usually 
intended  for  ornament  only  or  the  expression  of  vigor. 
White,  however,  is  often  used  as  ornament  also. 

While  not  literally  within  the  scope  of  our  topic, 
there  are  among  the  birds  other  social  signs  and  ex- 
pressed solicitations  for  each  other's  welfare,  which 
might  as  well  be  mentioned  here  because  they  are  of 
a  similar  nature  and  origin. 

The  well-known  assemblage  of  crows,  jays,  and 


COLOR  CALLS  AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


57 


Outer  tail  feather  white,  shown  only  in  flight. 


others  at  the  presence  of  an  enemy  is  one  of  the 
lowest  social  feelings  based  on  the  most  sinister  com- 
munity of  interest. 

Certain  birds  have  a  whirring  flight  when  first 
flushed,  and  others  have  purposely  designed  wing 
whistles,  as  in 
doves  and  wood- 
cocks. Others  in- 
cidentally strike 
their  wings  to- 
gether over  their 
backs  as  they  begin 
to  fly.  Yet  more 
voluntary  is  the  little  "  chit "  or  back  talks  of  many 
birds  as  they  feed — accompanied  sometimes,  as  in  the 
snowbirds,  by  the  little  flit  of  the  white  tail  feathers — 
a  sort  of  "  I-am-with-you  "  kind  of  signal  in  the  toil 
for  daily  bread. 

Then  there  are  those  most  conscious,  deliberate, 
altruistic  vocal  calls  of  the  flocking  birds,  where  so 
long  as  a  single  member  is  astray  the  whole  remain- 
ing flock  will  risk  its  safety  in  calling  the  wandering 
brother  in- —a  beautiful  instance  of  the  love  for  the 
lost  one  that  runs  all  through  Nature — a  hint  of  the 
concern  of  the  ninety  and  nine  about  the  hundredth 
one,  away  down  here  in  feathers. 

Many  a  man  walking  homeward  from  his  bloody 
work  among  the  birds  plumes  himself  upon  his  be- 
nevolence as  he  thinks  of  giving  a  quail  or  grouse  to 
an  invalid  or  an  appreciative  friend,  and  prides  him- 
self upon  his  culture  and  civilization,  when,  if  he 


58  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

would  turn  and  listen  to  the  call  of  brother  unto 
brother  in  the  gloaming,  while  the  smoke  of  his  gun 
is  still  floating  in  the  damp  air,  he  would  feel — if  he 
has  cultivated  the  art  of  feeling — that  he  has  left 
much  of  the  altruism  of  his  age  behind  him  in  the 
bushes. 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

WAR    AND    WEAPONS    AMONG    THE    BIRDS. 

CONTRASTED  with  our  last  reflections  comes  the  sad 
commentary  upon  the  birds'  moral  progress — that 
bluff  and  battle  are  such  conspicuous  features  of 
their  history.  Like  our  most  civilized  nations,  while 
professing  the  best  of  feelings  for  their  fellow,  the 
birds,  if  they  do  not  make  large  appropriations  for  de- 
fenses, at  least  secure  peace  with  honor  by  a  large  dis- 
play of  warlike  talk  and  tactics.  Still,  as  we  shall  see, 
the  folks  in  feathers,  like  their  neighbors,  show  in 
their  higher  development  a  tendency  to  use  weapons 
as  a  last  resort  and  to  depend  upon  milder  and  more 
refined  means  of  settling  disputes. 

While  some  of  the  Dinosaurs  had  spurs  on  their 
thumbs,  as  a  certain  ploverlike  bird  has  now,  it  is  prob- 
able, primarily,  that  birds  inherited  no  weapons  from 
their  ancestors  except  teeth ;  and,  like  all  early  weap- 
ons, these  were  developed  at  the  demands  of  prey 
taking  rather  than  of  war  among  themselves.  With 
the  change  of  the  character  of  the  food  these  were 
lost,  especially  as  the  extra  advantages  of  flight,  run- 
ning, and  pouncing  from  above  came  about.  This  is 
all  that  we  can  say  about  why  a  bird  lost  its  teeth. 

59 


60  THE   STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 

Its  discussion  would  involve  the  exposition  of  anatom- 
ical details  and  changes  in  habit  and  in  the  digestive 
tract  not  practical  in  this  little  book. 

With  changed  habits  or  changed  food  supply 
came  about  certain  special  means  of  prey  taking,  de- 
veloping some  utensils  that  were  weapons  indeed 
against  everything,  and  some  which  were  adapted  only 
to  the  special  needs.  For  instance,  the  beaks  of  cranes, 
shaped  for  piercing  a  fish  or  frog,  makes  a  dog  howl, 
but  that  of  a  swift  or  goatsucker,  shaped  for  tak- 
ing flying  insects,  is  harmless  against  an  enemy.  Of 
course,  again,  the  hooked  beak  and  terrible  talons  of 
the  birds  of  prey  are  all-around  weapons.  So  far  as 
we  can  see,  every  modification  of  beak  and  claw  of 
birds  is  made  purely  at  the  demands  of  food  taking. 
In  the  true  sense,  therefore,  these  can  not  be  taken 
as  true  weapons,  except  in  their  incidental  use  in  de- 
fense. 

Our  topic  turns,  therefore,  upon  special  weapons, 
and  the  evidence  is  that  these  came  in  not  as  a  neces- 
sity of  procuring  food,  nor  even  for  fighting  an  enemy 
of  the  species,  but  as  a  peculiar  means  of  overcoming 
a  rival — some  fellow-sufferer  in  the  toils  of  a  charmer. 
Within  the  species  war  and  love  have  come  down  the 
ages  together. 

Mr.  Darwin  has  shown  that  within  the  mammals, 
at  least,  many  weapons  are  nearly  useless  against  any- 
thing but  a  rival  within  the  species,  or  at  least  have  a 
poor  use  outside  of  this.  One  antelope  has  to  get 
down  on  his  knees  and  put  his  nose  far  back  under 
himself  to  bring  his  horns  into  play.  While  this  is 


WAR  AND  WEAPONS  AMONG  THE  BIRDS.       61 

very  effective  against  his  bellicose  fellow  who  accepts 
this  style  of  battle,  it  places  him  much  at  the  mercy 
of  other  outside  enemies,  as  a  leopard  or  wolf.  Ex- 
pert use  of  these  special  means  of  fighting  in  others 
are  very  effective,  however,  as  instanced  in  the  wild 
hog,  rhinoceros,  and  horned  cattle.  Still,  the  evidence 
is  that  the  weapons  and  styles  were  developed  while 
fighting  rivals — the  result  of  some  apparently  peculiar 
agreed-upon  style  of  battle.  For  instance,  victory  in 
some  lizards  consists  in  throwing  the  rival  upon  his 
back,  whereupon  he  at  once  yields  the  palm ;  and  it 
would  not  be  at  all  strange  if  a  kind  of  hook  for 
effecting  this  topsy-turvy  movement  should  develop 
upon  their  snouts. 

The  lowest  bird  now  living  that  is  specially  armed 
is  the  cassowary  among  the  ostrich  forms,  which,  be- 
sides having  the  inner  toe  elongated  and  armed  with 
a  long  straight  claw,  has  the  shortened  and  otherwise 
useless  wing  quills  converted  into  spines.  These  it 
uses  effectively  against  all  enemies.  But  it  is  more 
likely  that  this  latter  form  is  a  very  special  and  com- 
paratively modern  weapon,  since  it  is  not  found  else- 
where. 

Besides  the  special  arming  of  beak  and  toe,  the 
lowest  special  weapon  is  doubtless  the  wing  spur, 
brought  about  by  a  very  natural  use  of  striking  with 
the  wing  in  battles  among  the  males.  Even  the  very 
low  fossil  divers  show  its  probable  existence  upon 
their  wings  while  they  yet  had  teeth.  That  it  is  a 
special  development  within  the  species  is  shown  by  its 
many  different  locations  on  the  wing  in  different  birds. 


62  THE  STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 

That  the  spur  is  a  weapon  of  rivalry  is  shown  by 
its  larger  development  upon  the  wings  of  the  males 
(though  some  females  have  it)  and  by  the  fact  that 
where  it  exhibits  itself  only  as  a  knob  it  tends  to  sub- 
side (in  some  plovers)  after  the  fighting  season  is  over. 
Its  development  thus  by  use  may  also  be  implied  from 
the  fact  that  while  in  some  species  of  a  family  it  is  a 
well-developed  spur,  in  others  it  is  only  a  mere  cal- 
losity on  the  wing's  bend,  as  seen  in  the  swans  and 
others.  In  the  spur-winged  goose  it  is  strongly 
marked,  but  in  our  ordinary  geese  there  is  only  the 
habit  of  striking  a  very  effective  blow  with  the  "  butt 
of  the  wing,"  as  any  one  may  observe  in  a  goose  fight. 
The  writer  has  a  very  vivid  remembrance  of  a  time 
when,  having  the  experience  of  about  five  summers 
only,  he  undertook  to  be  too  familiar  with  some  fluffy 
goslings,  and  received  upon  his  forehead  a  very  prac- 
tical demonstration  that  an  old  gander  had  knuckles 
on  his  wings. 

Nearly  all  the  low  birds  appear  to  have  had  ances- 
tors with  this  style  of  weapons.  Among  the  fowl 
forms  some  of  the  brush-turkey  tribe  have  rudimen- 
tary spurs  upon  the  wings;  there  is  a  spur-winged 
pigeon ;  many  plover  forms  show  them  variously, 
and  at  the  junction  of  these  and  the  rail  forms  is  the 
jacana,  similarly  armed.  At  the  bottom  of  the  goose- 
duck  group  is  the  screamer,  with  double  wing  spurs, 
tying  this  group  backward,  while  triangularly  between 
the  birds  of  prey,  the  herons,  and  cranes,  and  doubt- 
less older  than  all,  is  the  spur- winged  secretary  bird. 
Dr.  F.  A.  Lucas  notes  that  when  wing  spurs  are 


WAR   AND   WEAPONS  AMONG  THE   BIRDS.       63 

present  the  bird  is  apt  to  have  wattles  about  the 
head. 

The  only  other  special  weapon  in  birds  is  the  leg 
spur,  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  fowl  forms. 
The  ostriches  strike  downward  and  forward  with  their 
feet,  a  habit  which  perhaps  came  about  by  the  degen- 
eration of  the  wing  and  the  great  use  of  the  leg  in  run- 
ning. This  striking  habit  is  shown  in  the  fowl  group, 
and  the  leg  spur  is  probably  developed  in  keeping 
with  it.  These  spurs  also  show  all  degrees  of  devel- 
opment from  mere  knobs  to  the  terrible  stiletto  of 
the  game  chicken.  Some  pheasants  have  more  than 
one. 

Wing  spurs  seem  to  be  a  growth  of  or  from  the 
bone,  but  all  leg  spurs  are  likely  of  surface  or  skin 
origin,  and  only  after  considerable  growth  do  they 
attach  themselves  to  the  bones  and  acquire  a  bony 
core. 

Sharp  edges  of  wing  bones  may  be  noted  as  a 
modification  looking  weapon  ward,  and  in  turkeys  and 
others  there  is  doubtless  a  hardening  of  the  lower  end 
of  the  breastbone. 

It  is  not  denied  that  in  Nature  there  are  not  spe- 
cial precautions  and  weapons  against  such  enemies  as 
might  prey  upon  the  owner.  The  skin  secretions  of 
toads  and  others,  the  spines  of  some  lizards,  the  so- 
called  quills  of  hedgehogs  and  porcupines,  the  shells 
of  many  creatures,  are  evidences  of  a  protective  ar- 
mor. The  birds  have  very  little,  if  any,  of  this. 
Whenever  they  do  possess  special  capacities  for  being 
disagreeable,  such  as  those,  for  instance,  incidental  to 


64:  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

their  feeding  habits,  they  are  apt  to  be  conscious  of 
their  use,  as  is  seen  in  petrels  and  vultures  ejecting 
the  offensive  contents  of  their  stomachs  as  a  means  of 
offense  and  defense. 

In  some  mammals  it  is  quite  evident  that  their 
weapons  have  been  changed  in  shape  at  the  demands 
of  ornamentation,  but  there  is  nothing  of  this  among 
the  birds.  Thus  horns  of  deer  have  been  unneces- 
sarily branched  even  till  there  is  danger  to  both  con- 
testants in  fighting.  This  has  no  reference  to  victory. 
Those  of  sheep,  antelopes,  and  goats  have  been  beauti- 
fully corrugated,  curled  into  spirals,  or  curved  into 
lyre  shapes  till  they  are  almost  useless  in  their  origi- 
nal purpose,  and  are  now  only  butting  implements  at 
their  bases.  But,  unless  we  except  the  occasional 
lengthening  of  beak  during  the  charming  season,  there 
is  nothing  of  this  kind  in  the  birds.  Ornament  seems 
to  have  seized  on  other  parts. 

There  is  evidence  among  the  mammals  that  one 
style  of  weapon  has  given  place  to  another,  as  where 
ruminants,  acquiring  horns,  have  lost  their  weapon- 
like  canine  ("  eye"  and  "  stomach  ")  teeth.  Some  deer 
that  have  no  horns  still  shoot  out  tusks  like  a  wild 
boar. 

So  it  is  not  improbable  that  weapons,  once  ac- 
quired, have  been  gradually  lost  in  birds,  as  other 
methods  of  winning  wives  have  been  developed. 
The  spur  comes  no  further  up  in  the  scale  than  the 
pigeons  and  hawk  forms.  Color  and  display  are  per- 
haps younger  than  special  weapons,  and  it  is  certain 
that  song  is  a  more  recent  form  of  overcoming  a  rival 


WAR  AND   WEAPONS  AMONG  THE  BIRDS.       65 

than  fighting ;  for  no  true  song  bird  is  specially 
armed,  if  we  except  the  adaptations  of  the  beak  in 
shrikes. 

Audubon  notes  that  the  yellow-shafted  wood- 
pecker (nicker)  never  fights  his  rival,  but  depends 
upon  antics,  chuckles,  etc.,  to  win  his  mate ;  but  he  is 
a  vigorous  defender  of  his  nesting  hole  when  he  is  at 
home. 

We  can  not  go  into  various  forms  of  battle  among 
the  birds.  In  many  it  has  degenerated  into  mere 
bluif ;  others  fight  ridiculously.  Audubon  notes  that 
snipes  and  woodcocks  push  each  other  around  harm- 
lessly with  their  long  beaks.  "While  many  song  birds 
fight  vigorously,  others  simply  vie  with  each  other  in 
a  sort  of  musical  rivalry,  as  we  shall  see  later,  sub- 
stituting music  for  war  and  showing  a  tendency 
toward  a  cultured  form  of  arbitration. 

In  others  battle  is  mere  chase,  the  bird  on  his 
home  tree  having  the  best  conscience  and  the  intruder 
the  poorest.  Repeated  evidences  of  this  exhibition 
of  how  "  conscience  makes  cowards  of  us  all "  may  be 
observed  daily  when  different  species  of  birds  nest 
near  each  other — an  instance  again  of  morals  well 
braced  by  retribution  low  down  among  the  brutes. 
In  others  the  battle  consists  in  the  mere  sham  of 
pretension,  as  they  inflate  themselves,  and  take  on 
terrifying  attitudes.  In  other  creatures  there  is  found 
a  form  of  protection,  wherein  by  color,  shape,  pose  or 
gesture  a  harmless  animal  will  mimic  one  that  is  dan- 
gerous or  disgusting,  thereby  gaining  safety.  But,  so 
far  as  known,  there  is  nothing  like  a  terrifying  mim- 


66 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 


icry  among  the  birds,  unless  the  resemblance  which 
the  European  cuckoo  has  to  the  European  sparrow 
hawk  be  such.  It  has  been  thought  that,  because  of 
this,  the  former  can  more  easily  frighten  smaller  birds 


Sparrow  hawks. 

away  from  their  nests  while  it  deposits  its  egg  within 
them.  By  reference  to  the  illustrations,  this  resem- 
blance can  be  noted. 

Among  mammals  there  are  some  forms  of  shields, 
but,  so  far  as  known,  while  some  birds  carry  swords, 


WAR  AND  WEAPONS  AMONG  THE  BIRDS.       67 

none  carry  bucklers.  The  hackles  of  cocks,  some 
plovers',  ruffs,  etc.,  while  having  the  appearance  of 
shields,  seem  merely  terrifying  or  ornamental  instru- 
ments, for  there  is  no  doubt  that  one  highly  orna- 
mented male  can  tantalize  or  humiliate  his  rival  by 
the  exhibition  of  his  own  beauty.  Birds  know  each 
other's  weak  places  and  beauty  spots,  and  direct  their 
attacks  at  them;  and  it  frequently  happens  here  as 
elsewhere  that  a  bird  is  weakest  where  he  is  prettiest. 


The  European  cuckoo. 

From  our  standpoint,  the  weapon  seems  a  cruel 
instrument,  but  in  the  purposes  of  Nature  it  has  been 
a  means  of  progress  and  betterment  of  the  species. 
The  outlook  for  a  higher  development,  when  moral 
growth  found  poor  soil  for  its  lodgment,  lay  in  some 
sort  of  suppression  of  the  weak  and  sickly  and  in  the 
survival  or  predominance  of  the  strong  and  healthy. 


68  THE   STORY  OF   THE   BIRDS. 

Death,  any  way,  is  the  great  doom  that  comes  out 
of  the  wear  and  tear  of  time  and  activity,  and  "  Na- 
ture red  in  tooth  and  claw,"  as  the  great  poet  puts  it, 
is  no  worse  than  Nature  rank  with  decay  and  ruin,  as 
it  would  still  be  if  rapine  had  never  prevailed.  As  it 
is,  a  wise  Power  has  arranged  it  so  that  out  of  death 
and  sacrifice  to  others  shall  come  the  highest  of  possi- 
bilities— the  best  there  is  in  life.  The  mission  of  the 
weapon,  in  Nature  as  in  Eden,  is  to  keep  the  way  of 
the  tree  of  life,  that  nothing  shall  become  immortal 
in  its  frailties  before  it  has  had  all  the  opportunities 
of  progress. 


CHAPTEK  XII. 

ANTICS    AND    ODOR   AMONG   THE    BIRDS. 

BIRDS  are  much  given  to  antics,  and  seem  at  times  to 
display  a  sense  of  humor.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  play 
among  birds,  but  nothing  to  compare  with  its  extent 
among  the  mammals.  Not  all  are  confined  to  charm- 
ing seasons  and  tactics.  Female  birds  sometimes  seem 
to  display  the  most  reckless  sort  of  capers  with  each 
other  when  there  is  no  Adonis  to  admire.  But  among 
the  males  it  must  be  admitted  that  many  of  them  pay 
their  partners  the  poor  compliment  of  acting  as  if  he 
who  made  the  biggest  clown  of  himself  was  the  most 
favored — a  state  of  affairs  found  too  often  among 
other  bipeds.  « 

Antics  doubtless  have  their  origin  in  an  excess  of 
energy  usually  accompanying  youth  or  occasions  of 
special  vigor.  In  very  young  animals  exercise  is 
necessary  to  proper  development  of  their  muscles, 
and  to  the  acquisition  of  skill  in  using  them.  Thus 
all  young  things  may  tend  to  play — especially  if  active 
in  after  life  ;  and  the  antics  of  adult  birds  is  a  sort  of 
grown-up  sport. 

Terns,  crows,  waxwings,  and  others  have  sorts  of 
games  with  their  food  sometimes,  and  the  gambols  of 


70  THE  STORY   OP  THE  BIRDS. 

little  chickens  in  the  barnyard  are  a  matter  of  every- 
day observation  in  summer. 

This  latter  is  almost  invariably  a  mock  fight ;  and 
in  this  many  antics  of  all  creatures — man  not  excepted 
— have  their  origin.  Mock  chases  and  retreats  are 
the  basis  of  many  sports,  and  an  especial  charming 
factor  found  running  all  through  Nature  is  that  tan- 
talizing "  you-can't-catch-me "  kind  of  daring  that 
little  girls  exhibit  and  big  girls  recover  from  with 
effort. 

But  among  cranes,  plover  forms  and  their  rela- 
tions, and  among  owls  and  many  others,  there  seems 
to  be  a  distinct  exhibition  of  the  merely  grotesque  or 
clownishness  of  motion — a  struggle  at  the  purely 
awkward  for  its  own  sake,  as  if  the  bird  were  trying 
to  provoke  a  laugh.  This  often  occurs  after  the  pair 
are  mated,  and  the  females  join  in  heartily. 

Other  antics  evidently  have  distinct  reference  to 
the  tender  state  only,  especially  those  among  the 
grouses,  bustards,  etc.  These  often  have  regular 
meeting  places,  or  some  old  male  will  trumpet  forth 
that  the  occasion  has  arrived  when  these  affairs  must 
be  settled,  and  all  come  at  his  call.  Then  they  assem- 
ble, and  pairing  is  preceded  by  the  most  formal 
waltzes,  minuets,  and  general  "  walk  around  s,"  in 
which  both  sexes  take  part.  There  comes  in  much 
strutting,  swelling,  booming,  and  cackling  on  the  part 
of  the  males,  throwing  defiance  at  each  other  till,  like 
other  "  cake  walks  "  and  "hoe  downs,"  the  whole  ends 
in  a  many-cornered  fight  among  the  gallants.  In  the 
attempt  to  present  a  large  appearance,  we  can  readily 


ANTICS  AND   ODOR  AMONG   THE  BIRDS.         71 

see  one  mission  of  the  air  spaces  beneath  the  skins  of 
birds. 

Again,  a  single  snipe  or  woodcock  may  get  his 
"  intended  "  off  entirely  to  herself,  and  exhibit  in  pe- 
culiar dances  and  jigs  that  he  is  hers  and  hers  only, 
or  he  may  arise  high  on  the  wing  and  cut  the  most 
peculiar  capers  and  gyrations  in  the  air,  either  pro- 
testing to  her  in  the  grass  beneath  the  most  earnest 
devotion,  or  advertising  to  her  his  whereabouts  and 
his  Barkis-like  condition.  It  is  quite  likely  that  in 
this  latter  case  he  is  trying  to  induce  her  to  come  to 
the  try  sting  place,  and  does  not  know  just  where  she 
is  yet.  In  some  sandpipers  the  male's  crop  is  inflated 
as  he  flies — a  state  which  he  doubtless  thinks  adds  to 
his  appearance. 

This  brings  us  to  that  more  usual  form  of  antic 
involving  the  display  of  pretty  parts.  So  certain  is  a 
bird  to  make  such  display  that  in  many  cases  the  style 
of  the  antic  can  be  predicted  from  the  position  of  the 
color  or  ornament.  The  strutting  of  peacock  and 
turkey  cock  scarcely  needs  mention. 

A  most  striking  and  familiar  instance  among 
our  small  birds  is  seen  in  the  flicker,  already  noted, 
as  not  fighting  his  rival.  His  back  is  protectively 
colored,  except  there  is  a  white  rump  spot  which  acts 
as  a  signal  or  banner  color  during  flight,  but  is  usually 
hidden  by  the  wings  when  the  bird  is  against  a  tree 
trunk.  There  is  also  a  red  stripe  across  his  nape. 
But  his  lower  parts  in  front  are  beautifully  polka- 
dotted,  a  black  crescent  or  locket  lies  across  his  chest, 
and  his  wings  and  tail  are  lined  with  a  beautiful  yel- 


72  THE  STORY   OP  THE  BIRDS. 

low,  with  the  shafts  of  the  quills  golden.  From  the 
corner  of  the  mouth  on  each  side  runs  backward  two 
black  lines  like  a  mustache.  Out  West  this  line  may 
be  red,  and  other  slight  changes  prevail. 

AVhen  he  wishes  to  charm  his  sweetheart  he  mounts 
a  very  small  twig  near  her,  so  that  his  fore  parts  shall 
not  be  hidden  as  he  sits  upright  in  regular  wood- 
pecker attitude,  and  he  lifts  his  wings,  spreads  his 
tail,  and  begins  to  nod  right  and  left  as  he  exhibits 
his  mustache  to  his  charmer,  and  sets  his  jet  locket 
first  on  one  side  of  the  twig  and  then  the  other.  He 
may  even  go  so  far  as  to  turn  his  head  half  around  to 
show  her  the  pretty  spot  on  his  "  back  hair."  In 
doing  all  this  he  performs  the  most  ludicrous  antics, 
and  has  the  silliest  of  expressions  of  face  and  voice  as 
if  in  losing  his  heart,  as  some  one  phrases  it,  he  had  lost 
his  head  also.  For  days  after  she  has  evidently  said 
yes,  he  keeps  it  up  to  assure  her  of  his  devotion,  and, 
while  sitting  crosswise  on  a  limb,  a  sudden  movement 
of  hers,  or  even  a  noise  made  by  one  passing,  will  set 
him  to  nodding  from  side  to  side.  To  all  this  she 
usually  responds  in  kind. 

This  movement  of  hers  has  also  some  significance. 
Excepting  the  mustache,  she  also  is  ornamented  as 
he,  and  she  plays  back  at  him  in  a  similar  peek-a-boo 
fashion. 

The  author  once  found  two  female  flickers  assid- 
uously courting  the  same  male,  and  they  were  out- 
Heroding  Herod  in  their  importunities.  Numerous 
other  examples  of  this  sort  could  be  given. 

The  song  flight  of  such  birds  as  the  European  lark 


ANTICS  AND   ODOR  AMONG   THE   BIRDS. 


73 


is  rather  too  dignified  to  be  called  an  antic — it  is  rather 
an  ecstasy ;  but  it  partakes  of  the  same  nature,  and  in 
our  meadow  lark,  lark  bunting,  yellow-breasted  chat, 
and  others,  it  is  often  rather  undignified.  Our  mocker 
has  it  also  along  with  a  peculiar  falling  or  fluttering 
down  flight  in  song,  which  seems  the  utmost  abandon 
purely  to  the  emotions  of  his  own  music. 


Skylarks. 

Among  the  reptiles  and  many  mammals  odor  is 
a  large  factor  as  a  weapon,  as  a  charm,  and  as  an  ad- 
vertisement of  position — a  sort  of  down- wind  call,  in 
many  cases  quite  searching. 


74:  THE   STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 

Odor  is  a  very  low  form  of  being  either  offensive 
or  agreeable  among  animals,  and  the  birds  are  ahead 
of  us  in  getting  away  from  it ;  for,  with  the  exception 
of  the  musk  duck,  no  bird  secretes  a  specially  odorous 
substance  for  any  purpose.  Man,  the  parasite  of  the 
parasites,  yet  robs  every  creature  of  its  perfume  when 
he  likes  it,  and  hints  his  kinship  backward  in  musk 
and  unguents  and  such  things.  It  seems  not  improb- 
able that  he  may  have  once  passed  through  a  state 
when  he  was  free  from  the  necessity  of  its  use  before 
the  dawn  of  soap,  since  clean  little  babes  have  an  agree- 
able odor ;  but  his  betterment,  like  that  of  the  birds, 
lies  in  a  less  use  of  perfumes  and  a  larger  use  of  water. 

Of  course,  in  every  organism  there  is  some  odor 
as  the  result  of  food,  necessary  excretions  of  the  skin, 
etc.,  but  in  some  there  are  specially  significant  odors 
connected  with  glands  for  their  secretion.  We  can 
not  stop  to  discuss  these  latter,  interesting  as  they  are, 
since  they  lie  outside  of  the  class  of  birds.  From  the 
suppression  of  the  pores  of  the  skin  at  the  base  of  the 
feathers,  corresponding  to  those  which  open  at  the 
base  of  the  hairs  in  mammals  (to  oil  them),  birds  have 
less  of  these  incidental  odors  than  most  creatures. 
This  suppression  is  compensated  for  in  them  by  open- 
ings in  the  oil  gland,  whereby  a  special  oiling  and 
waterproof  substance  is  emitted  which  the  bird  ap- 
plies, as  needed,  to  its  plumage. 

It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  this  should  be  free 
from  noticeable  odor,  since  in  some  mammals  where 
similar  special  openings  occur,  the  secretion,  to  phrase 
it  mildly,  is  rather  redolent. 


ANTICS   AND   ODOR  AMONG   THE   BIRDS.         75 

Birds  certainly  have  odors,  however,  which,  while 
not  so  evident  to  us,  are  easily  detected  by  dogs,  foxes, 
weasels,  etc.  These  odors  are  in  many  cases  distinc- 
tive, since  an  experienced  setter  often  shows  that  he 
knows  what  kind  of  birds  are  under  his  point.  These, 
arising  solely  from  food,  insensible  perspiration,  breath, 
oil  gland,  etc.,  are  not,  however,  so  characteristic  as  in 
the  mammals,  since  they  distinguish  each  other  and 
their  individual  young  by  scent.  No  chance  for  a 
Prince  and  Pauper  romance  there.  But  birds  do  not 
seem  to  recognize  their  young  this  way,  else  the  cow- 
bird  could  not  so  frequently  foist  her  squab  upon  the 
others. 

There  is  much  in  the  stronger  existence  of  odor 
in  flocking  birds  and  in  their  behavior  in  reassem- 
bling after  being  scattered,  to  imply  that  their  odor 
has  been  intensified  or  developed  for  some  such  social 
purpose.  Those  that  are  ground  haunters  are  strongly 
odorous  to  dogs  when  adult,  but  their  very  downy 
young  before  they  fly  seem  scarcely  so  at  all,  so  that 
experienced  noses  fail  to  "  locate  "  them  even  when 
they  are  near  by.  This  would  imply  also  that  the 
acquisition  of  these  special  gamy  odors  (as  they  are 
styled)  is  rather  recent,  as  in  all  probability  are  the 
social  habits. 

The  sense  of  smell  in  some  birds  is  quite  keen. 
This  is  well  shown  in  some  carrion  eaters,  notwith- 
standing their  large  dependence  on  sight,  and  in  the 
snipe  forms,  which  to  some  extent  probe  the  ground 
for  food  at  the  proper  place  by  it.  The  Apteryx  is 
said  to  snuffle  like  a  dog  while  it  hunts  in  the  dark. 


76  THE  STORY   OF  THE   BIRDS. 

Some  of  the  fowl  forms  and  others  perhaps  can  de- 
tect, hours  afterward,  that  the  human  hand  has  been 
in  their  nests.  Others  who  hunt  solely  by  sight  have 
this  sense  less  developed,  and  the  nostrils  are  almost 
entirely  suppressed  in  some  pelican  forms. 

There  are  some  unexplained  appearances  of  the 
voluntary  suppression  of  odor  in  the  game  birds 
which  are  rather  well  attested.  These  may  be  due  to 
its  dissipation  during  flight,  or  the  suppression  of  skin 
secretions  during  fright,  as  often  happens  in  any 
animal. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE    MEANING    OF    MUSIC    AMONG    BIRDS. 

Music  now  among  birds  has  primarily  in  it  the 
purpose  of  charming,  and  represents,  perhaps,  the 
highest  feature  of  their  progress. 

If  it  were  not  for  its  connection  with  other  court- 
ing tactics  it  ought  to  end  the  story  of  the  birds  in- 
stead of  coming  near  its  middle.  With  them  it  is  the 
capstone  of  the  great  pyramid  of  the  art  of  pleasing, 
and  man  only  at  the  tip  of  the  other  twig  of  develop- 
ment has  vied  with  his  friend  in  feathers  in  expressing 
the  refinements  of  the  emotions  in  vocal  melody.  It 
is  doubtless  as  recent  in  the  progress  of  his  culture  as 
it  is  in  theirs,  for  in  birds  battle,  and  perhaps  even 
color  and  "frills,"  may  have  been  inherited  from 
the  reptiles.  They  are  there  now  at  any  rate,  and 
odor  we  have  seen  was  doubtless  rampant  long  be- 
fore the  bird.  Special  weapons  came  in  early  after 
all  these,  and  perhaps  antics  as  now  seen  are  as  old  as, 
at  least,  or  older  than,  the  wing.  But  song  must  have 
waited  long  upon  the  feather.  The  reptiles  doubtless 
groaned  and  roared,  and  the  frogs  trilled  monoto- 
nously, but  there  were  no  modulations  that  were  in 
any  way  melodious  till  the  dawn  of  the  avian  syrinx. 

77 


78  TITK  STORY   OP  THE   BIRDS. 

No  other  creature  has  a  throat  like  a  bird.  It  has 
placed  its  singing  apparatus  at  the  forks  of  its 
bronchial  tubes,  and  left  all  the  rest  of  its  vocal  cav- 
ity to  modulation.  The  greatest prima  donna  has  no 
such  instrument  to  play  upon. 


Nightingale. 

True  bird  music  has  developed  solely  within  the 
birds,  for  the  lower  birds  have  not  the  modulating 
apparatus  that  the  higher  or  oscine  kinds  have,  there 
being  a  great  difference  in  kind  and  number  of  mus- 
cles, which  we  can  not  discuss  here.  The  lower  birds 
with  down  on  their  nestlings  can  (usually)  scream  or 
squeak  only,  or  at  best  issue  a  pleasant,  slightly  mod- 
ulated whistle. 

Song,  therefore,  is  largely  an  invention  of  bipeds, 


THE  MEANING  OF  MUSIC   AMONG  BIRDS.        79 

and  there  is  an  evident  connection  between  the  tree 
top  and  the  high  place  (in  every  respect)  and  music. 
No  original  water  haunter  or  ground  builder  ever 
sang.  Every  melody  is  a  march — a  command  to 
move  onward — to  every  ear  that  can  truly  compre- 
hend it. 

Yet  music  with  the  birds  has  been  perverted  or 
has  yet  the  trail  of  the  lower  passions  over  it.  Per- 
haps if  a  brief  general  definition  of  bird  song  were 
attempted  none  would  be  better  than  "  a  vocal  effort 
intended  to  please."  Yet  this  would  fall  far  short  of 
all  that  song  may  sometimes  mean.  While  the  pleas- 
ing feature  may  be  very  basic,  song  may  have  a  more 
primitive  element  of  being  a  mere  call  for  assemblage 
or  the  other  feature  of  advertising  the  singer's  posi- 
tion. 

This  calling  feature  is  doubtless  low  down  in  all 
vocal  effort.  It  may  be  only  an  offshoot  from  the 
social  expressions  and  by -talks  of  young  birds  in  the 
nest,  or  it  may  be  that  all  calls  have  come  out  of  dis- 
tress cries  provoked  by  pain,  hunger,  fear,  or  anger. 
The  language  of  these  is  very  primitive  and  uni- 
versally understood.  If  a  dog  howls  in  pain,  the 
mother  birds  near  by  will  shriek  and  scold  in  sym- 
pathy, not  at  the  dog,  but  at  the  common  enemy. 

Out  of  the  consoling  tones  of  parents  the  tender 
calls  may  have  had  their  origin,  and  a  desire  to  please 
and  attract,  by  selective  action  and  actual  practice, 
may  have  developed  these  into  the  highest  song. 

Other  birds  which  have  a  single  tone  for  all  pur- 
poses— fear,  distress,  rejoicing,  scolding,  cheering, 


80  THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 

calling,  fighting,  and  pleasing — indicate  the  probable 
development  of  all  music  from  one  source. 

Spring  songs  of  migrant  birds  are  made  by  males 
frequently  that  come  on  ahead  of  the  tide  of  females, 
and  are  doubtless  an  advertisement  of  position  and 
condition  of  heart,  as  well  as  a  serenade  and  a  solicita- 
tion. In  these  cases  birds  that  have  usually  lowly 
haunts  may  mount  the  tip  sprays  of  tall  trees,  as  they 
sing,  and  abandon  all  else  to  melody  till  this  engross- 
ing business  is  over.  Such  are  our  robins,  thrushes, 
wrens,  indigo  birds,  chewinks,  etc.  For  four  years 
the  writer  observed  a  single  red-winged  blackbird  to 
sit  upon  the  only  brush  near  a  meadow  pond,  and,  for  a 
while  in  the  spring,  gurgle  out  his  "  con-ker-ee-e " 
and  lift  his  gaudy  epaulets,  combining  acting  with 
melody.  It  is  probable  that  it  was  the  same  bird 
each  year. 

Song  doubtless  may  appear  to  have  a  mere  cheer- 
ing effect  or  that  of  a  serenade  purely.  The  nightin- 
gale and  many  others  sing  mostly  after  the  mate  be- 
gins to  sit.  Others  appear  to  sing  as  they  go  about 
their  work,  but  usually  when  the  young  are  hatched 
and  the  father  is  busy  worm  hunting  he  is  silent. 
The  sudden  acquisition  to  the  family  of  from  four  to 
eight  hungry  mouths  might  dampen  the  melody  of 
many  of  us. 

Song  sometimes  seems  to  have  in  it  the  element 
of  rejoicing  in  anticipation.  We  can  not  resist  the 
impression  that  this  is  the  cause  of  the  bluebird's  early 
song. 

In  the  fall  many  blackbirds  get  together  and  sing 


Thrushes. 


THE  MEANING  OF   MUSIC   AMONG  BIRDS.       81 

in  concert  at  the  evident  freedom  from  care  that  they 
have  reached  and  the  prospect  of  the  juicy  pulp  of 
the  farmer's  roasting  ear.  But  this  is  quite  different 
from  the  wheezy,  asthmatic  effort  by  which  the  male 
in  the  spring  won  his  wife. 

Likewise  the  meadow  lark  has  a  giggling  sort  of 
rejoicing  which  is  very  different  from  his  true  song. 

After  molt,  many  birds  sing  out  of  the  usual  sea- 
son, as  if  they  were  conscious  of  and  glad  at  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  new  suit  of  clothes  and  at  the  departure 
of  the  great  physical  strain  which  growing  new  feath- 
ers entails. 

These  are  evidences  of  rejoicing,  and  no  bird  sings 
when  not  well.  As  to  whether  a  bird  sings  when  sad 
or  not,  we  can  surely  say  that  many  sing  when  a  mate 
is  lost,  the  song  then  being  a  call  doubtless  purely ; 
but  we  shall  see  under  Step-parents  among  Birds 
(Chapter  XV)  that  there  is  considerable  doubt  as  to 
whether  this  is  intended  for  the  ear  of  the  quick  or 
the  dead.  There  is  no  doubt  that  songs  of  some  birds 
are  simple  expressions  or  overflow  of  energy,  since 
the  most  nervous  and  restless,  as  wrens,  finches, 
vireos,  etc.,  sing  most  tirelessly.  A  bird  may  some- 
times sing  just  as  a  boy  shouts  or  a  girl  giggles. 

We  have  noticed  in  the  last  chapter  that  some 
songs  are  evident  calls  to  assemblies  and  combats,  as 
the  booms  of  the  grouse,  and  many  are  challenges  and 
defyings  that  do  not  lead  always  to  battle.  Bobwhite, 
for  instance,  sings  after  mating  rather  than  before  it. 
He  has  a  slight  tendency  to  take  more  than  one  wife 
sometimes,  and  with  his  cry  he  warns  his  rival  with 


82  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

similar  tendencies  to  keep  off  his  domain  and  away 
from  his  beloved.  Several  males  will  reply  to  each 
other's  boastings  and  threats,  much  as  our  common 
chicken. 

In  fact,  this  is  a  larger  use  of  song  than  is  usually 
estimated,  and  its  highest  use — that  of  musical  rivalry 
or  emulation — has  come  out  of  it.  Near  the  writer's 
home  a  circle  of  as  many  as  five  rose-breasted  gros- 
beaks have  been  heard  singing,  each  taking  turns  at 
his  rollicking  warbling,  while  all  the  others  keep  re- 
spectful silence. 

But  not  always  does  such  consideration  prevail, 
for  some  use  song  as  a  means  of  encounter  almost. 
The  gentle  dove  will  break  in  upon  his  rival's  "  coo  " 
sometimes,  and  whip-poor-wills  will  often  get  near 
each  other  and  try  to  drown  each  other's  voices  out  by 
jumbling  up  ridiculously  and  rapidly  their  usually  de- 
liberate calls.  Likewise  the  turkey's  gobble  is  intended 
to  drown  the  challenge  of  his  rival. 

But  this  reminds  us  that  many  birds  have  different 
tones  for  various  phases  of  their  emotions.  The  tur- 
key's gobble  is  purely  his  challenge  or  defiance,  but 
he  has  a  tender,  low  call  besides.  Yet  his  vocabulary 
is  so  incomplete  that  he  uses  this  last  as  his  war  cry 
while  fighting.  Burroughs  has  noted  that  the  battle 
cry  of  the  bluebird  is  his  melody  which  he  uses  for 
all  purposes,  except  when  he  sets  up  that  pessimistic 
wail  of  his  at  the  prospect  of  his  autumnal  departure. 

Likewise,  when  the  rose -breasted  grosbeak  fights 
he  sings  melodiously. 

Other  birds,  especially  thrushes,  robins,  catbirds, 


THE  MEANING  OF  MUSIC  AMONG  BIRDS.       83 

etc.,  are  well  provided  with  distinct  scolding  notes 
and  distress  cries,  and  many,  like  some  boys,  fight 
crying  all  the  time. 

Some  have  a  distinct  tone  for  all  the  cries,  but 
the  "  attempt  to  please  " — the  true  song  or  serenade — 
can  usually  be  distinguished  by  the  manner  of  its 
delivery. 

There  is  much  else  about  the  accompaniments  of 
song,  the  mechanics  of  song,  where  rattles,  quill  snaps, 
air  swoops,  ventriloquial  effects,  and  various  other  fea- 
tures of  charming,  challenging,  and  calling  come  in, 
but  our  limits  prevent  their  discussion.  Likewise  the 
topics  of  how  songs  are  acquired,  or  the  instincts  of 
song,  and  what  songs  tell  of  a  bird's  associations,  of 
its  mimicry  of  and  influence  by  others,  etc.,  are  in- 
teresting, as  well  as  the  relations  of  song  to  size,  color, 
structure,  climate  and  weather. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FREAKS  OF  BACHELORS  AND  BENEDICTS  IN  FEATHERS. 

WE  have  seen  much  of  the  agencies  and  tactics 
that  birds  use  in  charming,  but  the  features  of  when, 
where,  and  to  what  extent  and  degree  the  feathered  gal- 
lant is  enthralled  has  not  been  mentioned.  If  St. 
Valentine's  Day  is  a  time  of  love  letters  and  tokens 
because,  as  it  has  been  asserted,  the  birds  pair  on  that 
day,  the  custom  must  be  based  in  an  age  and  climate 
very  different  from  ours.  Farther  south,  of  course, 
from  the  average  of  our  latitude,  some  resident  birds 
may  be  mated  by  the  14th  of  February,  but  within 
the  climate  of  our  middle  latitude  (35°  to  40°)  the 
pairing  is  much  later. 

Again,  at  any  point  it  is  very  variable  in  different 
birds,  ranging  in  extremes  in  the  limits  noted  from 
January  to  July.  Some  of  the  birds  of  prey  are 
either  paired  in  early  winter  or  else  have  married  for 
life,  and  many  of  our  large  owls,  which  hoot  and 
"  boo-hoo-hoo  "  and  dance  so  ludicrously  to  captivate, 
began  perhaps  last  fall,  since  their  eggs  are  sometimes 
found  in  early  February. 

This  might  make  this  eerie  bird  of  night,  instead 
of  the  dove,  the  appropriate  symbol  of  the  valentine, 

84 


FREAKS  OF  BACHELORS  AND  BENEDICTS.   85 

especially  since  it  slightly  "  forces  the  season,"  and  he 
might  become  generally  the  emblem  of  love  as  well 
as  of  wisdom.  It  might  be  unkind  to  imply  that  his 
great  folly  at  this  period  has  any  bearing  on  the  sug- 
gested change,  except  that  the  clownlike  antics  of 
both  himself  and  mate  while  under  the  tender  influ- 
ence tend  to  impair  their  reputation  for  dignity  and 
wise  demeanor. 

It  is  likely  that  with  those  winter  birds  that  stay 
with  us,  pairing  is  often  the  result  of  mere  associa- 
tion ;  but  there  is  never  just  simply  "  an  understand- 
ing." So  far  as  the  author's  observations  go,  there  is 
always  a  distinct  event,  when  he  asks  for  her  heart  by 
some  special  expression,  and  he  speaks,  in  some  way, 
of  the  wealth  of  beauty  and  devotion  he  has  to  offer. 

This  period  may  last  for  only  a  moment,  as  exhib- 
ited by  jays  and  others,  or  it  may  be  a  matter  of 
philandering  for  days,  as  the  flickers,  already  noted, 
often  exhibit.  It  is  certain  also  that  there  are  some 
long  engagements  among  the  birds,  or  long  sieges  of 
charming  at  any  rate.  Nearly  all  put  on  their  wed- 
ding suits,  and  many  exhibit  the  tactics  of  love  long 
before  the  housekeeping  begins.  Our  little  American 
goldfinch  or  thistle  bird  (sometimes  called  "  wild  cana- 
ry") dons  his  beautiful  lemon-yellow  suit  early  in 
spring,  and  sings  charmingly  of  all  that  he  hopes,  but 
that  more  somber  sweetheart  of  his  does  not  name  the 
day  till  somewhere  near  July.  She  is  waiting  till  the 
thistle  down  is  right  to  line  her  home  to  the  proper 
tint,  and  she  has  her  ideas  about  the  color  proprieties 
of  the  wedding  as  well  as  its  other  sentiments. 


86  THE  STORY   OP  THE   BIRDS. 

Among  the  birds  that  come  to  us  in  the  spring  the 
case  may  be  different)  and  weddings  and  housekeeping 
follow  fast  after  arrival.  Very  few,  if  any,  migrant 
birds  come  to  us  paired,  because,  as  noted,  the  males, 
especially  of  good  singers,  come  first.  They,  taking 
up  a  definite  location,  determine  often  the  region 
where  the  nest  will  eventually  be,  but  the  female 
usually  has  a  word  to  say  about  its  exact  situation. 
In  the  case  of  the  blackbird  that  chose  the  pond  bush, 
there  was  never  any  redwing's  nest  near  it. 

There  is  some  evidence  that  among  ducks  and 
some  low  birds  an  agreement  is  reached  before  the 
northward  migration  begins,  or  at  least  while  they  are 
on  the  way  later ;  but  the  small  birds  mostly  pass  us 
unpaired,  and  their  "  wedding  journey  "  is  usually  be- 
fore marriage.  Bobolinks  go  by  us  in  the  spring  in 
unpaired  groups,  the  males  very  much  dressed  up,  and 
singing  in  concert  as  if  each  now  was  practicing  for  a 
special  occasion  further  on ;  and  it  is  probable  that 
all  the  songsters,  wherever  they  stop  in  their  journey, 
sing,  although  no  feminine  ear  be  near  to  heed.  It 
may  be  that  when  the  male  reaches  the  end  of  his 
travels  arid  begins  the  announcement  of  his  loverlike 
condition,  he  has  "  a  girl  that  he  has  left  behind  him  " 
whom  he  expects  to  meet  him  in  the  region  of  last 
year's  romance,  and  the  peculiar  little  variations  in 
the  songs  of  various  individuals  may  be  for  her  recog- 
nition. It  is  just  as  likely,  however,  that  his  wife  for 
this  season  will  be  a  "  summer  girl "  only,  and  that  his 
old  flame  has  "gone  with  a  handsomer  man."  It 
may  happen,  therefore,  that  both  he  and  she  may 


FREAKS  OF  BACHELORS  AND  BENEDICTS.   87 

have  as  many  partners  as  there  are  years  in  their  little 
lives. 

To  such  birds  as  rear  more  than  one  brood  there 
may  be  a  second  or  third  spring  of  the  season,  when 
the  tactics  of  charming  are  again  resumed.  The  re- 
vival of  song  about  the  end  of  June,  when  the  first 
fledglings  are  able  to  care  for  themselves,  is  very  no- 
ticeable. While  most  birds  retain  the  same  mates  for 
all  the  year,  there  is  just  a  hint  sometimes  that  some 
get  a  new  partner  for  each  nesting  occasion.  We 
shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  that  birds  have  no  scru- 
ples about  second  marriages  the  same  season  when 
there  is  the  slightest  occasion  for  them. 

Neither  have  some  any  compunctions  about  taking 
more  than  one  wife  at  one  time.  Especially  is  this  the 
case  among  the  lower  families.  While  in  all  the 
groups  there  are  some  that  exhibit  both  tendencies 
(i.  e.,  one  wife  and  many  wives),  yet,  as  the  birds  have 
developed  music  and  the  more  refined  methods  of 
charming,  they  have  become  monogamous  (one  wife 
only),  and  exhibit  during  the  nesting  season  all  the 
tender  little  gallantries  that  make  up  so  much  of  love 
and  life.  The  hornbill  walls  his  wife  into  a  hole  with 
mud,  and  feeds  her  while  she  incubates  (see  Chapter 
XXI).  Many  others  bring  choice  delicacies  to  their 
incubating  mates.  Others  still  take  their  turns  at  sit- 
ting, in  constructing  nest,  feeding  of  young,  etc. 
Some  males  construct  the  nest  alone,  and  many 
among  the  lower  forms  (ostriches,  etc.)  take  exclusive 
charge  of  the  young  when  hatched.  As  noted  in 
some  plover  forms,  the  males  do  all  the  incubating, 


88  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

while  the  females  usurp  all  the  masculine  privileges, 
having  it  leap  year  all  the  time  in  their  circle. 

Other  little  birds,  while  unusually  devoted  in  song 
and  frivolous  attentions,  are  content  to  sing  only, 
while  the  wife  does  the  work.  As  a  rule,  the  female 
builds  the  nest  among  our  higher  birds,  though  both 
may  work.  Frequently  the  male  brings  material 
which  the  female  shapes  into  the  structure. 

Down  among  the  polygamous  birds,  as  ostriches, 
fowl  forms,  etc.,  there  is  an  occasional  fatherly  devo- 
tion that  is  striking.  Thus  the  male  ostrich  not  only 
scoops  the  sand  cup  for  the  eggs,  but  does  half  the 
incubating,  though  he  may  have  in  the  wild  state 
plenty  of  wives  to  divide  the  duty  up  among,  and  he 
takes  the  more  dangerous  night  time  as  his  portion. 
Besides  this,  as  noted,  he  rears  the  young  exclusively, 
and  shows  his  love  of  babes  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
will  steal  them  forcibly  from  his  neighbor. 

Our  Bob  white  takes  the  first  brood  under  his  care, 
hovering  them  from  storm,  and  talking  baby  talk  to 
them  like  a  mother,  while  his  mate  incubates  the  sec- 
ond brood. 

But  others  of  the  birds  of  this  level  are  far  from 
being  "model  husbands  and  fathers."  Our  com- 
mon rooster  is  usually  indifferent  to  the  chicks, 
and  our  turkey  cock  will  frequently  kill  them  if 
he  can. 

Usually  the  males  of  the  true  grouses — nearly  al- 
ways polygamous — desert  their  wives  as  soon  as  they 
go  to  sitting,  and  leave  them  till  the  family  is  entirely 
brought  up,  when  they  again  selfishly  join  the  flock, 


FREAKS   OF   BACHELORS   AND   BENEDICTS.      89 

Among  some  ducks  a  similar  habit  prevails,  but  some 
geese  and  swans  are  devoted  to  mate  and  young. 

While  some  birds,  as  noted,  like  eagles,  etc.,  pair 
for  life,  the  tender  relation  is  usually  ended  as  soon 
as  the  nesting  season  is  over,  even  among  our  most 
gallant  birds.  The  flocking  birds,  after  the  coming 
in  of  the  males,  may  all  stay  together,  but  the  others 
usually  separate.  Burroughs  notes  that  the  male^of 
our  least  woodpecker  ungallantly  drives  his  mate 
away,  and  takes  the  home-nesting  hole  exclusively  as 
his  winter  roosting  place ;  and  the  writer  once  saw  a 
female  downy  woodpecker  excavating  in  November  a 
hole  in  a  fallen  tree  top,  and  was  able  to  read  as  he 
ran  the  reason  for  this  winter  work. 

While  fishes  and  some  lower  creatures  paired,  per- 
haps, in  the  long  ago,  or  do  now,  at  least,  monogamy 
and  gallantry  first  found  their  great  development  in 
the  birds ;  and  while  some  of  them  have  made  small 
progress,  they  seem,  upon  the  whole,  to  have  done 
about  as  well  as  some  others  who  have  had  better 
opportunities. 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

STEP-PAKENTS    AMONG    BIRDS. 

ARE  there  any  old  maids  or  bachelors  among  the 
birds  ?  any  remated  ones  after  the  usual  pairing  sea- 
son has  passed  ? 

It  would  seem  so,  or  else  there  are  divorces  or  the 
worst  kind  of  desertion  of  mates.  In  the  writer's 
yard  a  kingbird  was  once  industriously  and  noisily 
thrashing  all  the  other  birds,  especially  a  favorite 
mocker.  A  stone  was  cast  the  tyrant's  way  merely 
to  frighten  him,  which  unfortunately  slew  him.  He 
was  given  decent  burial,  and  certain  glances  of  con- 
dolence were  thrown  up  to  his  widow  with  her  lonely 
home  upon  the  limb,  filled  perhaps  with  gaping  or- 
phans. 

But  by  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  she  had 
married  again,  and  the  new  husband  was  just  as  as- 
siduously thrashing  his  neighbors  as  his  predecessor. 
The  dead  bird  was  actually  dug  up  to  avoid  the  con- 
viction that  he  had  come  to  life  and  scratched  out. 
Later,  personal  observations  and  the  reading  of  the 
record  of  others  were  thoroughly  convincing  that 
within  the  same  season  there  may  be  many  second 
marriages  in  feathers,  and  that  the  question  of  the 

90 


STEP-PARENTS   AMONG   BIRDS. 


91 


Sadducees  (In  heaven  whose  wife  will  she  be  ?)  does  not 
worry  the  birds  much.  White,  of  Selborne,  notes 
many  similar  instances,  and  others  have  experimented 
till  they  determined  that  as  many  as  seven  successive 


Magpie  and  nest. 

spouses  would  be  found  very  quickly  by  suddenly 
bereft  pies,  daws,  rooks,  owls,  hawks,  eagles,  and 
others  of  either  sex. 


92  THE  STORY  OP  THE   BIRDS. 

The  new  wife  or  husband  has  the  very  commend- 
able virtue  of  taking  up  the  work  where  the  "  dear 
departed  "  left  it  off — anywhere  from  the  earliest 
stages  of  nest  building  to  the  feeding  of  the  young. 
It  would  seem  that  the  new  bird  would  like  to  begin 
anew,  but  in  this  and  other  respects  it  seems  a  model 
step-parent. 

If  the  male  is  left  he  at  once  begins  to  sing  or  call. 
This  may  appear  as  a  wail  for  his  first  love,  but  it 
looks  later  wonderfully  like  a  serenade  to  his  second. 
Sbme  persons  have  been  cruel  enough  to  shoot  female 
nightingales  on  the  nest,  that  the  male  may  break 
again  into  song. 

The  purpose  of  this  song  is  more  certainly  indi- 
cated in  those  cases  where  females  sing  in  widow- 
hood which  are  usually  nonmusical  at  other  times. 
Others  who  can  not  sing  have  peculiar  widowhood 
cries  that  are  well  understood  by  the  gallants.  But 
since  others  of  them  have  neither  of  these  means  of 
announcement,  and  can  not  don  the  draperies  and 
colors  of  mourning  as  a  visual  advertisement,  and 
dress  better  in  their  bereavement  than  they  did  in 
their  first  partner's  lifetime,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
they  so  quickly  marry  again.  There  may,  therefore, 
be  a  large  number  of  unmated  birds,  among  which 
the  widow  "  has  her  eye  out,"  and  whose  whereabouts 
she  well  knows. 

Sometimes  they  may  be  persistently  near.  In  the 
author's  yard  there  has  nested  for  years  a  pair  of 
house  wrens,  presumably  the  same  birds.  One  sea- 
son they  were  annoyed  (or  rather  the  husband  was) 


STEP-PARENTS  AMONG   BIRDS.  93 

by  the  presence  of  another  male  which  pried  around 
the  nest  persistently,  notwithstanding  the  occasional 
thrashing  he  got.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  had 
the  rightful  husband  died  the  other  would  have  been 
installed  at  once  in  his  stead. 

But  why  these  unmated  birds  do  not  find  each 
other  and  let  other  folk's  spouses  alone  is  more  of  a 
mystery. 

It  may  be  that  they  are  young  and  inexperienced 
in  partner  catching,  and  fail  in  the  struggle  with 
widows  and  widowers  in  the  fascinating  arts,  just  as 
others  do. 

It  is  not  at  all  improbable,  as  Mr.  Darwin  notes, 
that  there  are  certain  incompatibilities  of  temper  and 
taste  that  occur  among  birds  which  prevent  them  from 
finding  just  the  right  partners  among  each  other  till 
it  is  too  late  ;  or  they  may  also  have  been  unfortunate 
in  losing  a  partner.  They  may  have  mutually  agreed 
to  separate  because  they  could  not  agree,  for  there  are 
some  very  creditable  records  of  mated  birds  disagree- 
ing about  many  things. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  is  a  less  excusable 
feature  in  all  this,  and  while  constancy  is  the  rule 
above  polygamy,  some  individuals  of  any  species  may 
sigh  for  change,  even  in  a  summer  marriage,  and  de- 
sert their  mates  for  others.  Nuttall  notes  that  a  Bal- 
timore oriole  had  quite  a  tendency  to  linger  in  the 
society  of  his  neighbor's  spouse,  and  that  his  wife 
won  him  back  again  ;  and  there  are  various  instances 
of  connubial  vagaries  in  both  sexes.  Even  that  beau- 
tiful constancy  so  long  emphasized  in  song  and  senti- 


94 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 


mental  literature — the  constancy  of  the  dove  group 
will  not  bear  too  close  inspection,  since  even  Aristotle 

denied  it  so  long  ago,  and 
his  views  have  been  con- 
firmed by  others. 
Mr.  Darwin  thought 
also  that  perhaps  in 
more  instan  ces  than 
is  usually  suspected 
birds  were  associ- 
ated in  triplets — 
two  of  one  sex  with 
one  of  the  other — 
and  he  instances  some, 
and  that  this  was  a 
loose  union  easily 
broken  when  a  better 
situation  was  open. 
Such  things  are  noticeable 
among  domestic  geese,  etc. 
The  writer  recently  received  a  letter  from  a  Nebraska 
observer,  asking  why  he  so  frequently  saw  three  crows 
together  in  nesting  season ;  and  he  went  on  to  say 
that  there  was  a  song  about  "three  black  crows," 
probably  founded  on  a  similar  basis.  But  he  omitted 
his  address  (and  a  stamp  of  course),  so  that  he  could 
never  be  answered  from  this  source,  unless  this  little 
book  falls  into  his  hands  and  gives  him  the  above 
inkling. 

Birds  may  change  their  habits  with  regard  to  de- 
votion to  mates  with  change  of  environment.     The 


Daw. 


STEP-PARENTS  AMONG  BIRDS.  95 

mallard  duck  is  monogamous  in  the  wild  state,  and  a 
Mormon  of  the  Mormons  when  domesticated. 

Very  closely  allied  genera  or  families — even  spe- 
cies— differ  strikingly  in  permanent  habits,  as  we  saw 
in  the  last  chapter.  Again,  they  may  hint  their  kin- 
ship in  their  frailties.  Our  crow  blackbirds  are  mo- 
nogamous, but  show  some  quite  Lotharian  tendencies ; 
the  red-winged  or  swamp  blackbird  is  polygamous 
usually,  and  the  cowbirds  on  the  border  of  the  family 
are  indifferent  to  any  connubial  ties  whatever.  The 
weakness  of  NuttalPs  oriole  may  have  been  an  inherited 
tendency,  since  he  is  in  the  same  family  with  all  these. 

Of  course,  among  the  purely  polygamous  birds  such 
vagaries  count  little,  and  step-parents  may  occur  with- 
out death,  as  with  the  ostriches,  for  instance,  where 
many  females  lay  in  the  same  nest.  Mr.  Darwin  notes 
a  correlation  which  may  tend  to  prevail  between  bril- 
liancy of  color  and  polygamy,  so  that  any  bird  that  is 
pretty  may  be  liable  to  suspicion  as  a  flirt — a  very  natu- 
ral conclusion,  tending  to  hold  beyond  the  feather. 
But  the  writer  has  observed  in  the  male  cardinal  the 
most  unselfish  paternal  interest,  where,  unmated  him- 
self, he  helped  a  pair  of  blackbirds  feed  their  young. 

Of  course,  there  is  yet  that  other  form  of  step- 
parents, blameless  except  for  its  stupidity,  where  one 
bird  hatches  and  rears  the  young  of  another,  to  the 
injury  and  loss  of  its  own,  as  seen  in  the  parasitic 
habits  of  the  American  cowbird  and  European  cuckoo. 

The  adoption  by  a  common  hen  of  any  bird  that 
she  has  hatched,  as  a  duck,  is  a  form  of  step-parental 
affection  common  in  almost  any  barnyard. 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

WHY    DID    BIRDS    BEGIN    TO    INCUBATE  ? 

have  followed  the  bird's  story  thus  far  by  the 
development  of  changes  in  its  structure  slightly  and 
in  its  outer  covering  more  extensively.  This  latter 
led  us  on  into  its  emotions  (and  their  reflex  effect 
upon  structure  and  color  of  plumage)  and  into  the 
development  of  a  love  for  beauty  and  music  and  some 
other  general  aesthetic  feelings  till  we  have  reached 
some  of  its  tendencies  toward  the  unselfish.  From  this 
standpoint  we  shall  now  go  again  to  near  the  bird's 
origin,  and  note  its  progress  away  from  the  reptiles 
through  incubation,  nest  building,  egg  coloring,  young 
rearing,  and  kindred  topics. 

This  may  be  styled  another  account  of  the  genesis 
of  the  birds,  parallel  with  and  corroborative  of  the 
first. 

After  this  a  few  miscellaneous  side  lights  will 
follow,  and  our  task  is  done. 

Since  all  reptiles  have  eggs,  many  of  which  are 
hatched  outside  of  the  body,  as  are  those  of  the  birds, 
and  since  only  one  quite  unbirdlike  family  of  reptiles 
—the  large  constricting  snakes — show  any  tendency 


WHY  DID  BIRDS  BEGIN  TO  INCUBATE?        97 

toward  incubation,  an  interesting  question  may  arise 
as  to  the  origin  of  this  habit  among  the  birds. 

Since  the  lowest  birds,  or  those  showing  nearer 
relationship  to  the  reptiles  in  structure,  practice  incu- 
bation less  closely  than  do  the  higher  groups  (some 
even  ignoring  it  altogether),  we  feel  justified  in  in- 
ferring that  the  early  birds  left  their  eggs  to  be 
hatched  by  natural  heat,  and  that  incubation,  as  we 
now  know  it,  came  in  after  feathers. 

While  the  coiling  of  the  python  and  other  similar 
snakes  around  their  eggs  may  seem  like  incubation,  it 
may  be  really  more  a  matter  of  maternal  watchful- 
ness. The  temperature  of  the  eggs  are  said  to  be 
elevated  by  the  act,  however,  but  this  may  be  due  in 
part  to  their  own  heat  incidental  to  the  mere  act  of 
hatching,  for  the  development  of  life  means  the  de- 
velopment of  some  heat.  Since  all  reptiles  are  cold- 
blooded, they  have  little  heat  to  impart  to  their  eggs, 
and  incubation  can  have  little  significance  with  them. 
In  fact,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  parent  has 
coiled  about  the  eggs  to  warm  itself  from  them,  and 
in  this  way,  at  least  among  reptiles,  the  habit  of  in- 
cubating may  have  had  its  origin. 

But,  strange  to  say,  the  opposite  idea  has  been 
advanced  in  the  case  of  birds — that  is,  that,  being  in- 
tensely hot-blooded,  they  began  first  to  sit  upon  their 
eggs  in  order  to  cool  their  breasts.  In  keeping  with 
this  view  it  may  be  noted  that  one  thing  is  fairly  es- 
tablished now — that  at  the  incubating  period  the 
breast  and  abdomen  of  the  sitting  bird  are  in  a  state 
of  congestion,  and,  of  course,  the  circulation  and  heat 


98  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

in  these  parts  are  much  increased.  It  is  said  that  the 
cruel  experiment  has  been  tried  of  baring  and  burn- 
ing the  breast  of  a  common  rooster,  whereupon  he  at 
once  began  sitting  on  eggs  to  cool  himself. 

All  this,  if  true,  leaves  the  increased  circulation  at 
this  particular  season  yet  to  be  accounted  for,  but  in- 
cubation itself  may  have  come  about  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  develop  both  the  habit  and  congestion  to- 
gether, for  the  mere  act  of  sitting  long  in  one  place 
tends  to  make  the  breast  warm,  while  the  increasing 
heat  of  the  hatching  eggs  tends  also  to  heighten  the 
temperature.  Now  the  rhythm,  or  regular  recur- 
rence, of  a  physiological  condition  is  well  known  to 
be  easily  established,  just  as  we  train  ourselves  to 
hunger  or  to  desire  sleep  at  certain  intervals.  Birds 
exhibit  these  physiological  rhythms  in  other  ways 
than  this. 

Since  so  many  birds  even  after  laying  one  egg  be- 
gin at  once  to  sit  before  others  are  deposited,  it  may 
be  that  incubation  began  in  the  act  of  laying.  It  is 
well  known  that  an  egg  begins  to  hatch  even  before 
it  is  laid,  and  in  many  reptiles  its  embryo  is'  thus  per- 
fected within  the  body.  It  is  not  impossible  that  such 
birds  as  lingered  long  over  the  prior  eggs  before  or  in 
the  act  of  laying  the  succeeding  ones,  or  rested  on 
them  a  while  from  the  exhaustion  of  the  act,  or  possi- 
bly took  to  roosting  on  them  to  protect  them,  had  their 
young  more  surely  and  quickly  hatched  out,  and 
hence,  by  inheritance  of  the  tendency,  natural  selec- 
tion could  easily  intensify  the  habit. 

Besides  the  sun-hatching  tendencies  exhibited  by 


WHY  DID  BIRDS  BEGIN   TO  INCUBATE?        99 

most  reptiles,  and  to  some  extent  by  the  ostrichlike 
birds  (in  the  wild  state),  there  is  another  interesting 
example  of  the  similarity  of  nesting  habits  between 
some  early  birds  and  some  reptiles.  The  crocodiles 
generally  are  known  to  bury  their  eggs  in  the  hot  sand, 
but  some  indicate  progress  by  excavating  deep  holes 
and  placing  in  them,  with  their  eggs,  much  vegetable 
material,  so  that  a  sort  of  hotbed  is  formed,  and  the 
eggs  are  hatched  by  the  heat  generated  by  decay. 
Among  the  megapodes,  or  brush  turkeys,  of  the  Aus- 
tro-Malaysian  regions,  a  similar  habit  prevails.  Some- 
times this  is  varied  into  a  surface  compost  heap  which 
many  birds,  acting  together,  raise  and  use  in  common. 
Like  the  reptiles,  the  eggs  are  deposited  in  the  night. 
But  the  bird  out-Herods  Herod  in  the  lack  of  further 
paternal  interest,  for  some  of  the  crocodiles  feed  their 
young  after  they  escape  to  the  water,  and  in  some 
measure  they  guard  the  place  of  deposit ;  but  the  little 
brush  turkey  and  his  kin  are  always  orphans. 

A  sense,  therefore,  of  the  need  of  more  heat  or 
heat  differently,  or  more  constantly,  applied  may 
therefore  lie  at  the  base  of  incubation.  Conditions 
might  easily  have  arisen  that  demanded  a  change,  for 
birds,  as  we  have  frequently  seen,  are  easily  influenced 
by  changes  in  environment.  Thus  the  ostrich  doubt- 
less leaves  its  eggs  to  be  hatched  in  the  sand  by  the 
sun  in  some  hot  regions,  but  in  others,  and  especially 
under  domestication,  it  practices  incubation,  and  it  has 
in  all  probability  changed  its  habits  to  some  extent 
since  the  time  of  Job  (xxxix,  14). 

"With  the  early  birds  conditions  quite  likely  arose 


100  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

as  the  result  of  permanently  leaving  the  shores  for  re- 
gions where  sand  for  burial  was  not  convenient  or  the 
sun's  heat  was  not  sufficient,  and  the  egg  being  laid 
upon  the  bare  ground  or  rock,  incubation  was  necessary. 
This  would  naturally  result  also  from  migration  into  a 
cooler  region  or  from  a  permanent  change  of  climate. 

In  the  varying  amount  of  incubating  heat  required 
to  hatch  eggs  of  the  same  size  but  from  different  spe- 
cies there  is  a  hint  that  the  habit  of  sitting  has  been 
progressive.  In  tropical  regions  it  is  sometimes  quite 
difficult  to  hatch  a  bird's  egg  under  a  common  hen, 
because  too  much  heat  is  applied,  and  an  explosion 
usually  results  ;  and,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chap- 
ter, birds  of  southern  origin  build  cooler  nests  than 
those  from  the  north.  Some  birds  sit  longer  than 
others  on  eggs  of  nearly  the  same  size.  As  a  rule,  the 
time  of  incubation  is  roughly  in  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  eggs,  and  it  may  vary  from  seven  days  in  the 
smaller  birds  to  forty  in  the  largest.  It  is  well  known 
also  that  some  birds  sit  much  closer  than  others. 
Likewise  the  second  clutches,  where  more  than  one 
brood  is  laid,  hatch  a  little  the  quicker  often,  doubt- 
less because  of  the  greater  warmth  of  the  more  ad- 
vanced season. 

This,  varying  amount  of  heat  now  also  has  some 
relation  to  the  condition  of  the  nestling  when  hatched, 
whether  downy  or  naked,  but  that  bears  on  another 
topic  (see  Chapter  XX).  Our  space  precludes  the 
discussion  of  the  incubating  habits  of  the  various  spe- 
cies, but  some  of  them  have  been  referred  to  in  other 
chapters.  Others  will  come  up  later, 


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CHAPTEE   XVII. 

WHY    DO    THE    BIRDS    BUILD    SO  ? 

IF  we  walk  out  and  study  the  architecture  and 
building  habits  of  our  feathered  neighbors  we  find 
that  they  seem  to  drop  into  much  the  same  natural 
divisions  as  our  human  associates.  Some  are  still 
clinging  to  the  traditions  of  their  fathers  and  some 
are  wide-awake  and  abreast  of  the  times,  and  all  are 
more  or  less  influenced  by  circumstances  either  past 
or  present. 

Here,  now,  we  shall  find  those  "  feather-bed  folks  " 
— the  nuthatches,  titmice,  chickadees,  and  others — 
sweltering  in  hot  weather  at  the  bottom  of  deep  holes 
on  mattresses  of  fur  and  down,  all  because,  no  doubt, 
their  ancestors,  as  they  came  down  to  us  on  the  edge 
of  the  ice  waves,  needed  these  winter  linings.  Now  the 
bird  going  on  has  carried  them  to  the  Gulf.  So  the 
blue  jay  here  in  June  must  have  a  bit  of  wool  to  stop 
the  chinks  in  his  log-cabin  home,  and  the  shrike  or 
butcher  bird  is  still  barbarous  enough  to  line  his  wig- 
wam with  the  coverings  of  his  quarry. 

Then  there  are  the  tanagers,  the  grosbeaks,  the 
cardinals,  the  cuckoos  and  others,  which,  by  their 
greater  development  under  the  tropics  and  their  dis- 
9  101 


102 


THE   STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 


tribution,  habits,  colors,  etc.,  show  themselves  to  be 
of  Southern  origin,  building  up  North  here  light,  airy, 
basketlike,  saucer-shaped  nests,  like  those  their  ances- 
tors were  cradled  in  under  the  equator.  Some  swal- 
lows, however,  evidently  from  the  South,  use  feathers. 


European  house  swallow. 

Some  southern  birds'  eggs,  as  noted  in  the  last 
chapter,  require  less  heat  to  hatch  them  than  those  of 
their  hothouse  friends.  And  here  is  the  crested  fly- 


WHY    DO   THE   BIRDS   BUILD  SOI  103 

catcher,  always  trying  to  have  a  cast-off  snake's  skin 
for  upholstering,  because  it  may  have  frightened  away, 
perhaps,  some  enemy  of  his  forefathers. 

That  type  of  all  that  is  proper,  our  mourning  dove, 
may  be  in  the  same  category,  though  she  shows  some 
tendency  to  improve  with  the  years ;  for  that  old 
broken-wing  bit  of  hypocrisy  which  she  still  exhib- 
its very  dramatically  shows  that  her  ancestry  were 
ground  builders,  and  hints  her  very  close  kinship  to 
the  fowl  forms  (Gallince).  Now,  however,  she  fre- 
quently pens  her  eggs  in  by  a  few  straws  and  twigs 
laid  on  a  rail,  a  flat  stump  top,  a  limb,  or  even  upon 
the  platform  of  thick  evergreen  needles.  But  in 
structure  it  is  a  poor  affair  at  best  and  shows  the 
shortness  of  her  pedigree.  She  is  only  the  second  re- 
moval  from  an  ostrich.  She  has  caught  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  however,  and  locates  her  nest  according  to 
the  emergencies — never,  it  is  said,  failing  to  use  the 
tall  cacti  mit  on  the  Southern  plains  to  lift  her  eggs 
and  younkabove  the  preying  reptiles.  Even  here  at 
home  we  JJfaj  note  that  she  never  tries  the  pious 
fraud  upon  man  or  dog  when  her  nest  is  high  up  and 
safe,  as  if  she  knew  an  emergency  when  she  saw  it. 
In  fact,  it  seems  that  she  is  often  adverse  to  need- 
less industry  or  effort ;  for  while  she  may  place  her 
first  few  straws  up  in  a  tree,  she  is  quite  inclined  (in 
the  Middle  "West  at  least)  to  place  her  second  clutch 
in  some  already  prepared  bare  depression  among  the 
grain  stubble  without  the  slightest  sign  of  structure. 
She  has  lost  her  tendency  upward  these  dog  days  and 
has  gone  back  through  sheer  laziness  to  the  old  style 


104  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

of  her  ancestors.  Ninety-five  degrees  in  the  shade 
takes  a  deal  of  energy  and  progress  out  of  us  all,  and 
we  show  a  very  degenerative  tendency  toward  primitive 
habits,  as  the  loose  robe  and  the  summer  tent  often 
indicate. 

Doubtless  many  other  birds  are  influenced  by  this 
element  of  laziness,  for  the  second  nests  of  most  birds 
are  rarely  so  well  built  as  the  first.  Even  so  neat  a 
bird  as  the  chipping  sparrow  has  been  seen  relining 
an  abandoned  catbird's  home  for  its  second  brooding. 
But  there  is  no  doubt  also  that  there  are  sloven  in- 
dividuals among  the  respective  species  of  our  neigh- 
bors, for  some  are  much  neater  than  others. 

Again  some,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  dove,  are 
much  inclined  to  be  influenced  by  circumstances. 
These  may  be  brought  about  by  conditions  of  safety 
or  convenience  of  material.  Nests  of  the  same  birds 
differ  in  the  latter  according  as  they  may  be  in,  say, 
a  hemp-,  a  cotton-  or  a  wool-growing  region.  An  ex- 
treme case  is  that  of  the  little  bird,  which,  straying 
into  the  crater  of  the  volcanoes  on  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  builds  its  home  of  the  spun  glass  about  it 
— and  of  course  should  not  throw  stones  at  anybody. 
Another  bird  is  reported  to  have  built  its  nest  in 
Switzerland  of  fragments  of  the  mainsprings  and  hair- 
springs of  watches  thrown  outside  a  factory,  and  is 
entirely  up  to  date  with  a  steel  structure  or  at  least  a 
woven-wire  mattress. 

Ornithological  records  are  full  of  instances  of 
change  both  in  progress  and  degeneration  of  nest 
building.  But  further  instances  are  precluded  by 


WHY   DO   THE  BIRDS  BUILD  SO!  105 

our  limits.  The  subject  is  in  itself  a  study,  and  a 
literature  already. 

Before  we  close,  however,  let  us  glance  a  mo- 
ment at  the  probable  origin  and  development  of  nest 
building. 

While  we  have  fossil  birds,  and  fossil  eggs  even, 
it  is  unfortunate  for  us  that  we  have  no  fossil  nests. 
Neither  have  we  an  embryology  of  nests  in  the  true 
sense  from  which  we  may  infer  something  of  their 
beginnings.  Young  birds  build  cruder  nests  than 
their  parents  do,  but  this  is  a  matter  purely  doubtless 
of  experience  or  the  lack  of  it.  Still  it  is  a  law  that 
if  the  individual  can  progress  then  so  may  the  race. 
We  have  seen  that  birds  may  grow  more  expert  under 
changed  conditions.  We  have  also  some  hints  of  the 
route  up  which  modern  nest  building  has  come  through 
the  study  of  the  nests  of  the  lowest  birds  now  living. 

While  some  fishes  now  build  nests,  there  is  noth- 
ing of  the  kind  among  the  reptiles,  except  perhaps  one 
of  the  snakes  of  India,  and  the  hotbed  habits  of  some 
crocodiles  already  noted.  The  nest,  therefore,  as  we 
know  it  has  been  developed  wholly  within  the  birds, 
and,  like  incubation,  is  not  an  inheritance. 

As  a  simple  cup -shaped  depression  in  the  bare 
sand  or  earth,  it  may  have  indeed  been  the  same  as 
the  reptiles'  sand  scrape  with  the  lid  left  off  for  incu- 
bating. Many  birds  yet  use  such  a  pretense,  and  a 
few,  especially  among  those  laying  only  one  or  two 
eggs,  hatch  their  young  out  on  bare  flat  surfaces,  as 
rocks,  etc. 

Doubtless,  however,  the  first  step  toward  a  nest 


106  THE  STORY  OP  THE   BIRDS. 

was  a  hollo  wed -out  place  in  soil  that  was  not  neces- 
sarily sandy,  especially  if  the  early  birds,  as  is  quite 
likely,  laid  many  eggs.  Under  this  condition  a  de- 
pression was  necessary  to  hold  the  eggs  well  together 
while  being  incubated. 

Conditions  of  migrations  or  change  of  tempera- 
ture may  also  have  arisen  wherein  such  eggs  as  had 
something  under  them  were  more  likely  to  be  hatched 
out,  and  this  sort  of  natural  selection  might  have  in- 
tensified the  tendency  to  seek  grassy  places  and  set  up 
structure,  or  at  the  least  shaping  of  the  material  at 
hand.  We  shall  see  something  of  a  hint  of  this  prog- 
ress in  the  color  of  the  bird's  egg. 

But  it  was  not  until  birds  began  to  build  in  trees 
that  much  progress  was  likely  made  in  intricate  nest 
structure.  Such  birds  as  we  now  find  building  neat 
nests  on  the  ground  belong  to  families  that  are  largely 
tree  builders,  and  their  ground-nesting  habit  is  evi- 
dently comparatively  recent. 

It  is  probable  that  even  the  first  nests  in  trees 
were  merely  rude  platforms  as  we  find  yet  among  low 
birds  that  build  there.  If  we  except  one  bird  among 
the  stork  forms  (Scopus),  few  if  any  elaborate  nests 
belong  below  the  perchers  and  their  near  relatives. 
Even  these  complete  nests  often  have  the  primitive 
platform  first,  then  the  cup  on  that,  and  lastly  the 
lining. 

That  the  lining  is  comparatively  recent  is  shown 
by  this  sequence  and  by  the  fact  that  it  is  usually  the 
last  thing  that  a  bird  changes  ;  but  the  platform  may 
often  be  omitted.  Some  birds  are  so  concerned  about 


WHY   DO   THE   BIRDS  BUILD   SO!  1Q7 

the  lining  as  to  always  have  roots  of  the  same  color 
or  hairs  of  the  same  fineness  and  character,  or  other 
special  material.  In  a  few  cases  the  nest  consists  of 
the  lining  only. 

Intricate  and  comfortable  nests  have  come  about 
more  likely  for  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  young 
than  for  that  of  the  eggs.  In  all  the  low  birds,  which 
are  chiefly  ground  builders,  the  young  flee  at  once 
from  the  nest  or  stay  in  it  only  a  little  while,  and  it 
has  small  relation  to  their  comfort.  Others,  who  build 
no  nests  but  have  helpless  young,  lay  their  eggs  on  or 
under  rocks,  upon  high  cliffs  or  inaccessible  islands, 
and  the  safety  of  their  nestlings  is  thus  assured.  But 
when  birds  began  building  in  trees  (for  the  further 
safety  of  young  perhaps)  better  structure  became 
necessary.  It  is  said  that  now  the  birds  that  build 
the  best  nests  have  their  young  remain  longest  in 
them.  It  has  been  asserted  that  this  long  babyhood 
permits  the  youngster  to  better  study  the  parental 
type  of  architecture,  and  thus  better  nests  still  are 
the  result ;  but  it  seems  quite  evident  that  the  nest 
is  built  better  because  there  is  so  much  longer  need 
of  it. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  bird  may  take  de- 
light in  the  skill  of  its  work  and  the  beauty  of  its 
home  as  well  as  in  its  plumage,  etc.  Their  aesthetic 
natures  (in  some  birds)  are  doubtless  factors  in  the 
betterment  of  their  homes. 

Hummingbirds,  gnatcatchers  and  others  garnish 
the  outside  of  their  nests  with  lichens,  silks,  etc.,  and 
many  others  show  by  the  arrangement  of  the  lining  a 


108  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

mechanical  form  of  ornament.  One  bird  in  India 
studs  the  outside  of  its  nest  with  fireflies  that  glow  at 
night.  It  has  been  claimed,  however,  that  this  orna- 
mentation is  purely  to  make  the  nest  conform  to  the 
color  of  its  surroundings,  or  that  the  purpose  of  the 
fireflies  is  to  frighten  away  some  enemy.  But  it  can 
not  be  denied  that  a  love  of  beauty  and  skill  enters 
into  nest  building  in  the  higher  birds.  Nevertheless 
the  modern  nest  is  often  shaped  by  the  builder's  at- 
tempts at  concealing  it.  Nest  concealing,  we  shall  see 
later,  is  a  large  factor  in  bird  life,  perhaps  affecting 
migration.  We  can  not  enter  into  details.  Every 
boy  knows  how  snugly  a  bird's  home  can  be  tucked 
away. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  in  the  past,  at  least, 
there  has  been  an  intimate  relation  between  the  style 
or  shape  (and  location)  of  the  nest  and  the  color  of 
the  sitting  bird  in  order  to  conceal  her.  The  style  of 
nest  that  she  has  used  may  have  affected  her  color,  or 
she,  having  the  color  first,  may  have  built  her  nest  to 
suit  her  complexion — more  likely  the  latter,  when  we 
know  all  the  facts.  It  is  an  interesting  question  which 
has  developed  a  real  philosophy  of  bird's  nests.  The 
naturalists  were  for  a  while  "  cheek  by  jowl "  over  it, 
but  we  can  not  discuss  it  further. 


CHAPTEK  XVIII. 

FASTIDIOUS    NESTING    HABITS    OF    A    FEW    BIRDS. 

BEFORE  leaving  the  subject  of  nests,  it  might  be 
well  to  notice  a  few  instances  of  a  certain  fastidious- 
ness in  building  and  some  other  peculiarities.  No 
attempt  at  even  mentioning  all  could  be  hoped  for. 
The  topic  of  nests  alone  is  a  specialty  in  ornithology. 

Mr.  Darwin  had  considerable  trouble  in  convinc- 
ing the  world  that  birds  exercised  choice  in  selecting 
their  mates,  but  the  most  casual  observer  may  note 
how  very  fastidious  they  are  in  choosing  the  proper 
location  and  material  for  their  homes — especially  the 
latter.  Even  such  a  sloven  builder  as  our  dove  has 
been  seen  to  pick  up  and  reject  as  many  as  half  a 
dozen  straws  before  finding  one  to  suit. 

After  a  certain  substance  is  once  chosen,  however, 
bird's  continue  to  use  that  from  a  certain  definite 
region.  Thus  a  Dick-cissel  (black-throated  bunting) 
selected  one  year  all  her  straws  from  the  midst  of  a 
meadow  which  seemed  to  the  observer  to  have  the 
same  material  on  its  nearer  edge.  It  may  be  just  pos- 
sible that  a  convenient  dead  weed  on  which  her  mate 
sat  and  sang  while  she  worked  had  something  to  do 
with  it,  for  he  went  with  her  to  the  neighborhood  of 

109 


110 


THE   STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 


the  nest  and  sang  there  and  then  preceded  her  to  the 
dead  weed  again.  But  it  is  more  probable  that  he 
merely  persuaded  himself  that  he  was  "bossing  the 
job." 

Robin's  are  quite  given  to  selecting  more  than  one 
site,  building  a  little  there  and  abandoning  it  for  an- 


- 


Singing  while  his  mate  builds. 

other.  This  often  appears  as  the  result  of  seeing  that 
they  have  made  a  mistake.  But  other  birds  seem  to 
be  merely  unable  to  settle  upon  a  location. 

The  palm  for  this  sort  of  fickleness  the  world  over 
belongs  to  the  wren  tribe,  as  exhibited  in  the  great 
number  of  their  well-known  "  sham  "  nests. 


FASTIDIOUS  NESTING  HABITS  OP  A  PEW  BIRDS.  HI 

It  may  be  readily  noted  in  the  familiar  house 
wren,  which  fills  every  cavity  about  the  place  with 
sticks  before  it  selects  one  for  the  real  nest.  Various 
theories  have  been  advanced  to  account  for  this  tend- 
ency in  our  nearest  feathered  neighbor,  all  of  which 
are  partly  plausible,  but  none  of  which  account  for  all 
the  facts.  It  appears  to  be  a  matter  of  pure  selfish- 
ness, as  held  by  Burroughs  and  others,  as  if  he  did 
not  want  any  other  bird  to  enjoy  these  cavities — a 
sort  of  dog-in-the  manger  spirit ;  but  his  cousins  the 
marsh  wrens  and  the  tule  wrens  of  California,  and 
others  which  do  not  use  holes,  build  a  number  of 
these  sham  nests  in  the  grass,  sometimes  quite  near 
each  other,  only  one  of  which  is  said  ever  to  be  used. 
The  writer  was  sure  one  year  that  the  extra  holes 
were  held  for  the  second  (or  even  third)  broods,  since 
the  birds  used  one  of  them  thus  that  season,  but  the 
next  year  they  occupied  for  the  second  nest  a  cavity 
that  they  had  not  filled  at  the  beginning  of  the  season. 
This  may,  however,  still  seem  the  reason  generally, 
and  the  minds  of  these  individual  birds  may  have  been 
changed ;  but  the  fact  of  the  tule  and  marsh  wrens 
never  so  using  their  extra  nests,  if  true,  is  against  this 
view. 

In  England  these  extra  nests  are  called  "  cock 
nests,"  because  it  is  asserted  that  the  male  roosts  in 
them  while  his  mate  is  sitting,  and  the  first  brood  of 
young  occupy  them  at  night  while  the  second  are 
being  hatched.  But  the  writer  has  found  both  the 
male  and  subsequent  broods  "roosting  out"  in  the 
crotch  of  a  maple  while  the  mother  incubated. 


112  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

Another  plausible  theory  is  that  the  male  wren 
builds  and  pretends  to  defend  these  sham  nests  to 
divert  the  attention  of  an  enemy  from  the  real  nest 
and  his  sitting  mate.  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
bird  should  not  be  capable  of  such  deception.  But 
the  nearness  to  each  other  of  the  nests  of  the  tule 
wren  is  somewhat  against  this  view. 

It  may  be,  however,  that  these  extra  nests  once 
had  some  such  purpose,  and  they  are  still  built  by 
force  of  inherited  habit.  •  One  other  bird  at  least  has 
a  nest  with  a  vestibule  for  the  male  to  sleep  in,  and 
various  birds  resort  to  deception  about  their  nests. 
Or  it  may  be  that  this  extra  building  is  the  result  of 
the  great  surplus  energy  of  these  birds,  just  as  great 
abundance  of  their  song  may  be. 

Ofttimes  the  male  alone  fills  the  cavity  with  twigs 
and  the  female  comes,  burrows  into  the  center  of  the 
mass,  and  lines  it  with  straws  and  feathers.  A  male 
house  wren  was  once  observed  to  pile  such  a  mass 
under  a  back  porch  while  his  mate  was  on  the  first 
nest.  So  far  as  known  she  came  to  inspect  it  only 
once,  and  then  evidently  rejected  it.  Some  of  these 
sham  nests  may  be  attempts  of  the  male  to  please  his 
wife,  and  their  rejection  may  be  just  the  usual  femi- 
nine fastidiousness  about  housekeeping  affairs. 

Something  similar  has  been  noted  in  the  nesting 
of  the  purple  gallinule,  an  aquatic  bird. 

Birds  have  been  rather  naturally  but  unscientifi- 
cally classified  in  their  nest  building  according  to  the 
manner  of  making  the  nest,  as  carpenters  (hole  diggers 
in  wood),  plasterers  (much  mud  in  nest),  weavers,  felt- 


FASTIDIOUS  NESTING  HABITS  OF  A  FEW  BIRDS.  H3 

ers,  basket  makers,  etc.  These  things  are  very  appar- 
ent when  the  nest  is  at  hand,  and  the  styles  may  be 
combined  as  in  the  robin's  nest. 

The  swifts  might  be  styled  cementers,  since  their 
nests  largely  consists  of  twigs  glued  together  by  a 
sticky  saliva,  secreted  especially  during  the  nesting 
season.  Of  course  it  is  well  known  that  one  Chinese 
swift  omits  the  twigs  altogether. 

It  is  probable  that  many  birds  which  build  such 
neat,  compact  nests,  also  use  saliva  in  felting,  espe- 
cially the  hummingbirds,  which  are  next  of  kin  to  the 
swifts.  It  is  well  known  that  the  woodpecker  uses 
no  nest  material  at  all  except  the  fine  chips  of  the 
digging,  feeling  perhaps  that  if  he  finishes  his  home 
in  hardwood  his  young  can  do  without  the  upholster- 
ing. Here  is  a  striking  illustration  that  the  habits  of 
the  young  and  the  style  of  the  nest  are  related,  since 
little  woodpeckers  after  a  few  days  do  not  sit  upon 
the  bottom,  but  cling  constantly  to  the  sides  of  the 
cavity.  There  is  little  need  of  a  mattress. 

It  would  be  interesting,  of  course,  to  note  the 
many  striking  or  unusual  locations  of  nests  and  their 
peculiarities  of  material,  use  and  structure  ;  but  it 
would  take  a  volume,  and  reference  must  be  had  to 
special  works  on  the  subject. 

Something  of  the  relations  of  nest  and  egg  colors 
will  be  noted  in  the  next  chapter. 

It  is  likely  that  no  birds  use  the  same  nest  to 
rear  a  subsequent  brood  in  the  same  season,  but  they 
nearly  always  build  the  second  nest  in  the  same  region. 
But  many  birds  that  build  in  holes  use  the  same  hole, 


114  THE   STORY   OF  THE   BIRDS. 

and  perhaps  part  of  the  same  material  over  again. 
Such  are  bluebirds,  chickadees,  wrens,  crested  flycatch- 
ers, and  some  swallows.  Of  course  with  the  wood- 
peckers, house  cleaning  in  the  spring  is  simply  the 


Sand  martins. 


result  of  the  year's  disinfection.  Sand  martins  or 
bank  swallows  and  some  woodpeckers  make  new 
holes  each  year.  But  where  a  bluebird  takes  an- 
other bird's  nest,  she  is  often  quite  particular  about 


FASTIDIOUS  NESTING  HABITS  OF  A  FEW  BIRDS.  H5 

scratching  out  all  the  other's  material.  This  is  true 
of  some  others.  Other  birds,  however,  steal  or  ap- 
propriate each  other's  material,  and  are  even  so 
sloven  as  to  take  the  old  material  out  of  a  last  year's 
nest.  Others  again  appropriate  the  abandoned  nests 
which  have  already  been  used  that  season,  and  refit 
them  to  rear  their  own  second  brood  in. 

Eagles,  owls,  and  others  of  that  sort  repair  slightly 
from  year  to  year  the  same  nest.  Owls  also  are  great 
users  of  abandoned  hawks'  nests.  Of  course  it  is  well 
known  that  the  ospreys,  if  not  disturbed,  will  continue 
indefinitely  to  heap  rubbish  upon  their  nests  until 
their  bulk  is  very  great. 

The  saying,  therefore,  "Useless  as  a  last  year's 
birds'  nest "  is  meaningless  from  the  standpoint  of 
some  birds. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

WHAT     MEAN     THE    MARKINGS    AND    SHAPES    OF 
EGGS  ? 

HOWEVER  varied  and  beautiful  the  markings  of 
birds'  eggs  are  now,  we  can  not  help  feeling  that 
either  at  present  or  in  the  past  these  spots,  streaks, 
etc.,  and  their  colors,  have  some  reference  to  use  or 
purpose.  The  most  plausible  view  is  that  these  were 
for  protection.  Such  eggs  as  best  mimicked  the 
place  where  they  were  deposited  would  most  likely 
escape  detection  by  egg-eating  enemies,  and  the 
chicks  hatched  from  these  would  most  likely  lay 
similarly  marked  eggs  again. 

The  earliest  birds  with  highly  marked  eggs  are  the 
plover  forms,  whose  eggs  were  chiefly  deposited  per- 
haps on  the  pebbly  shore,  and  well  harmonized  with 
the  various  colors  of  small  stones.  Such  are  still 
strikingly  protected  in  this  way.  But  among  the 
higher  birds  there  are  now  many  instances  of  marked 
contrast  between  the  color  of  the  nest  lining  and  that 
of  the  egg.  At  least  one  bird  insists  upon  black  roots 
to  line  her  home  with,  while  her  eggs  are  conspicu- 
ously light-colored. 

Mr.  Wallace,  the  great  naturalist,  revived  an  old 
116 


THE   MARKINGS  AND   SHAPES  OF   BIRDS'  EGGS. 

theory  that  these  contrasting  markings  (such  as  nearly 
black  heavy  blotches  on  a  white  ground)  were  in- 
tended to  make  the  egg  hard  to  detect  when  viewed 
through  the  branches  of  trees  from  above,  claiming 
that  the  light  and  dark  markings  imitated  light  and 
shadow  spots  caused  by  the  spaces  between  the 
leaves.  It  seems  more  probable,  however,  that  these 
markings  are  now  an  inheritance  from  a  past  con- 
dition, when  they  were  imitative,  and  that  the  bird 
has  changed  its  building  habit,  and  of  course  can  not 
so  soon  change  its  physiological  habit  by  laying  eggs 
to  suit  the  surroundings.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
standard  theory  is  that  the  ancestors  of  our  birds  here 
in  the  temperate  zone  were  once  resident  in  regions  far 
north  or  far  south  of  us ;  that  ours  is  a  region  that 
has  been  colonized  and  not  a  creative  or  developing 
center.  Now,  the  bird  that  once  built  its  nest  near 
the  pole  when  that  region  was  tropical  may  have  had 
its  eggs  marked  well  in  keeping  with  the  lining  ma- 
terial there  used  ;  but  when  the  ice-cap  drove  it  south 
it  could  no  longer  match  its  nest  to  its  eggs  because 
the  old  material  was  not  at  hand. 

Birds,  as  we  have  seen,  are  usually  very  constant 
in  the  use  of  the  same  lining  material  when  it  can  be 
obtained,  but  they  are  also  easily  influenced  by  con- 
venience. A  bird  which  formerly,  as  it  advanced 
from  the  arctics,  lined  its  nest  with  grayish  fern, 
wool  or  lichens,  may  now  use  flax  fiber  in  Dakota, 
black  roots  or  horsehair  in  Missouri,  and  sheep's  wool 
or  cotton  in  Texas.  Some  such  instances  are  actually 
known  to  occur. 
10 


118  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

Usually  such  birds  as  have  long  built  in  holes  have 
their  eggs  white.  But  there  are  many  hole  builders 
that  lay  beautifully  marked  eggs,  as  the  sparrow  hawks 
and  others.  The  case  here  is  perhaps  similar.  The 
eggs  were  originally  marked  in  keeping  with  an  ex- 
posed nest,  and  they  retain  in  their  hieroglyphics  the 
history  of  the  family,  if  we  could  only  read  it.  Doubt- 
less every  marked  bird's  egg  is  a  palimpsest  story  of 
the  bird,  with  pedigree  after  pedigree  written  over  it. 
Some  of  the  white  eggs  of  hole  builders  have  perhaps 
never  been  colored  or  marked,  but  others  doubtless 
may  be  blank  by  losing  their  family  record.  Among 
the  colored  eggs  of  many  birds  to-day  there  are  tend- 
encies toward  an  occasional  white  egg,  and  in  the 
bluebirds  these  are  rather  frequently  found.  It  is 
possible  that,  since  their  eggs  are  no  longer  more  use- 
ful when  colored  than  when  plain,  the  bluebird  of 
the  very  far  future  may  lay  a  white  egg,  if  it  persist 
in  hole  building. 

If  we  had  space  some  evidences  could  be  cited 
that  the  coloring  and  marking  of  eggs  are  compara- 
tively recent.  It  is  shown  by  the  deposit  of  color  in 
the  oviduct,  occurring  usually  when  the  egg  is  low 
down  only,  and  then  upon  the  outer  layers  of  the 
shell  chiefly.  In  some  grouses  and  ptarmigans  the 
color  can  be  readily  rubbed  off  when  the  egg  is  first 
laid. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  a  few  birds  there  is  evi- 
dence which  seems  to  show  that  there  is  a  tendency 
toward  losing  color.  In  the  cormorants  and  similar 
forms,  in  cuckoos  and  others,  the  outer  layer  of  the 


Sparrow  hawk,  young,  and  nesting  hole. 


THE  MARKINGS  AND   SHAPES  OF  BIRDS'  EGGS.  119 

shell  is  usually  incomplete  and  uncolored,  while  that 
below  is  a  bluish  green.  Many  of  the  hawk  forms 
appear  (as  they  have  grown  more  arboreal  in  their 
building)  to  have  a  tendency  to  lose  those  strong 
markings,  and  to  dilute  the  deep  stains  which  charac- 
terize the  eggs  of  their  ancestral  relatives,  the  vul- 
tures. So  also  the  flycatchers  usually  lay  strongly 
marked  eggs,  but  the  Phoebe's  are  only  specked  occa- 
sionally, and  the  least  flycatcher's  are  always  wholly 
white. 

Eggs  frequently  hint,  though  not  always  very  re- 
liably, the  kinship  of  the  bird ;  and,  strange  to  say, 
their  very  great  variations  may  sometimes  seem  in- 
clined to  point  one  way  and  sometimes  the  other.  In 
fact,  many  of  these  variations  must  be  the  result  of  the 
double  strain  of  kinship  that  comes  into  every  family. 
Our  crow  blackbird  lays  two  forms  of  eggs — one 
rather  crowlike  and  one  zigzagged,  like  those  of  the 
orioles.  In  its  true  kinship  the  bird  stands  where  its 
eggs  indicate,  between  the  oriole  forms  and  the  crow- 
jay  forms. 

It  would  be  interesting  had  we  space  to  note  the 
character  of  these  markings  and  the  relations  they 
seem  to  sustain,  to  the  ground  colors ;  to  the  num- 
ber in  the  clutch ;  to  the  earliness  or  lateness  of  the 
clutch ;  to  the  size  of  the  egg,  and  even  to  the  size  of 
the  bird ;  to  the  result  of  hybridism  ;  to  the  character 
of  food ;  to  the  effect  of  fertilization ;  to  the  change 
of  climate  ;  and  to  the  general  bearing  of  the  environ- 
ment. Few  things  are  more  fascinating  than  the  study 
of  birds'  eggs  in  this  light. 


120  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

The  color  of  the  egg  is  something  that  has  been 
wholly  developed  within  the  birds,  since  no  known 
reptile's  egg  is  even  stained.  Neither  are  these  colors 
incident  to  the  material  of  the  shell,  since  carbonate 
and  phosphate  of  lime,  of  which  it  is  largely  com- 
posed, are  naturally  white.  They  are  evidently  very 
specially  stained.  The  first  stains  may  have  been 
blood  stains,  and  certain  relations  have  been  asserted 
between  these  and  the  bile  stains ;  so  that  the  condition 
of  the  bird's  liver,  as  with  the  rest  of  us,  may  have 
had  much  to  do  with  what  it  has  done. 

It  is  altogether  probable  that  there  was  a  time 
when  eggs,  if  colored  at  all,  were  all  unspotted.  So 
far  as  the  present  "  ground  "  colors  are  noted  they 
seem  to  consist  largely  of  drabs  and  buffs,  and  various 
mixtures  (often  with  these)  of  blue  and  green.  It 
can  be  readily  seen  how  these  tints  once  set  up  could 
be  intensified  till  they  harmonized  with  sand,  soil  or 
growing  (blue-greenish)  vegetation.  Later  reddish 
browns  show  themselves  in  spots.  Some  low  birds 
in  and  near  the  Ostrich  group  show  similar  solid 
hues. 

This  last  may  probably  indicate  some  progress  in 
nest  building,  since  these  colors  better  harmonize  with 
dead  grass,  the  use  of  which  in  the  early  nesting  sea- 
son may  hint  of  loose  material  and  therefore  of  struc- 
ture. 

These  reddish-brown  spots  and  all  others,  as  lilacs, 
lavenders,  grays,  etc.,  may  have  come  in  as  a  tendency 
to  the  degeneration  and  breaking  up  of  ground  color, 
in  keeping  with  changes  of  nesting  sites  and  all  other 


Least  fly  catcher.    Phoebe. 


THE  MARKINGS  AND  SHAPES  OF  BIRDS'  EGGS.   121 

things  noted  as  affecting  egg  coloration ;  especially 
since,  as  already  mentioned,  spottings  of  the  older 
type,  that  are  deep  seated  in  the  shell,  are  not  devel- 
oped until  we  get  up  to  the  pebble  haunters  (or  shore 
birds) — a  second  removal  from  the  ostriches.  The 
faint  spots  and  darker  stains  on  the  eggs  of  the  Fowl 
groups  show  evidence  of  being  recent,  as  noted  con- 
cerning ptarmigans. 

Oology,  however,  is  not  regarded  as  an  exact 
science,  and  while  its  indications  are  sometimes  strik- 
ing and  interesting,  confirming  other  hints  of  kin- 
ship, they  must  usually  be  taken,  on  account  of  the 
many  influences  mentioned,  with  considerable  caution. 

Birds'  eggs  usually  differ  in  shape  also,  in  a  gener- 
al way,  from  those  of  the  reptiles,  which  last  are  near- 
ly always  globular  or  ellipsoidal — i.  e.,  elongated  with 
both  ends  alike.  But  birds'  eggs,  with  some  excep- 
tion in  woodpeckers,  owls  and  their  near  kin,  always 
show  a  true  ovoidal  shape — i.  e.,  elongated  with  one 
end  smaller  or  more  pointed  than  the  other.  The 
word  oval  comes  from  the  Latin  ovum,  an  egg,  and 
does  not  mean  an  equal  ended  compressed  hoop  or 
ellipse,  as  is  often  popularly  thought.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  this  shape  is  the  natural  result  of  the 
upright  position  of  the*  bird  while  the  egg  is  forming, 
thus  making  the  lower  end  the  larger,  but  the  owls 
and  woodpeckers  are  the  most  upright  birds  in  posi- 
tipn,  and  yet  they  lay  the  most  globular  eggs.  Another 
theory  of  shape  is  that  eggs  were,  so  shaped  among 
low  birds  (from  which  they  now  retain  their  pe- 
culiarities by  inheritance)  by  their  being  laid  on ••  flat 


122  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

surfaces  without  any  nest.  In  order  that  they  might 
roll  around  in  a  circle  and  not  roll  away  or  off  of  a 
bluff,  etc.,  one  end  is  made  larger  than  the  other.  Of 
course  the  most  pointed  egg  would  be  the  safest,  and 
hence  the  tendency  would  be  increased.  It  is  a  fact 
that  this  style  of  egg  tends  to  prevail  among  the  flat 
rock  builders  of  to-day. 

Again,  it  has  been  found  that  certain  plover 
forms,  which  lay  very  pointed  eggs,  always  keep  the 
three  or  four  in  their  nest  with  the  points  to  the  cen- 
ter— replacing  them  when  disturbed — so  that  the  nar- 
row breast  may  better  cover  them;  or  possibly,  as 
among  some  fowl  forms  (quails)  where  many  eggs  are 
laid,  they  may  be  made  pointed  so  as  to  lie  closer 
packed  in  two  layers.  It  may  be  noticed  by  the 
reader  in  the  kinship  diagram  (Chapter  XXX)  that 
these  pointed  eggs,  running  from  fowls  through  plov- 
ers, gulls  and  auks,  tend  along  a  line  of  strong  con- 
secutive kinships. 

The  pigeons  lay  eggs  alike  at  both  ends,  but 
roundish  and  much  elongated,  while  the  grebes  lay 
likewise  equally  ended  eggs,  but  both  very  pointed. 

The  structure  and  grain  of  the  shell  also  bear  on 
the  relationship  of  birds,  but  this  and  other  interest- 
ing things  about  the  development  of  the  egg  and  its 
hatching,  etc.,  are  beyond  our  scope. 


CHAPTEE   XX. 

WHY    TWO    KINDS    OF   NESTLINGS  ? 

FEW  tilings  about  birds  are  more  interesting  than 
the  condition  of  the  young  when  hatched  and  the 
various  features  connected  with  the  duration  of  their 
babyhood. 

Doubtless  all  young  of  the  primitive  birds  were 
precocial,  or  hatched  with  eyes  open,  with  down  or 
possibly  coarser  feathers,  and  able  to  run  and  forage 
at  once  (or  very  soon)  for  themselves.  Such  is  the 
case  with  the  lower  birds  now,  and  such  exclusively 
is  the  case  with  the  reptiles. 

Of  course  it  is  well  known  also  that  the  higher 
birds  (usually  the  smaller)  are  hatched  naked,  blind 
and  helpless,  and  are  fed  in  their  nests  by  the  parents 
for  a  longer  or  shorter  season.  Between  the  extremes 
of  these  and  the  precocials  are  all  degrees  of  grada- 
tions both  in  strength  and  covering — the  two  last 
features  varying  independently  of  each  other. 

But  the  altricial  condition  has .  generally  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  the  result  of  premature  hatching, 
and  there  are  a  few  things  that  tend  to  confirm  this 
view  of  it. 

At  least  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  altricial 
123 


124  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

condition  has  come  out  of  the  precocial — a  sort  of  de- 
generate process  consequent  perhaps  upon  changed 
conditions.  True,  in  certain  reptiles  there  is  a  prema- 
ture hatching  of  the  eggs  within  the  body,  but  the 
young  comes  forth  as  perfect  as  by  the  slower  process 
of  external  heat. 

In  the  mammals  generally  a  premature  condition 
of  the  young  at  birth  is  strikingly  within  the  lower 
forms — as  in  the  marsupials — and  its  perfection  be- 
fore birth  is  evidently  a  later  or  higher  development. 
Still,  since  some  (such  as  kittens  and  puppies)  in  the 
higher  mammals  are  much  more  helpless  and  blind 
than  others  (as  pigs  and  calves),  it  is  evident  that  the 
condition  of  babyhood  is  even  here  quite  variable, 
depending  upon  some  unexplained  influence.  It  is 
probable  therefore  that  some  change  of  habit  or  envi- 
ronment, by  selective  agency  or  otherwise,  has  effected 
this  change  in  birds.  While  we  can  never  know  what 
it  was,  we  can  glance  tentatively  at  the  problem  and 
note  some  interesting  possible  factors  of  the  change. 

First,  the  condition  of  the  nestling  seems  to  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  relative  size  of  the  egg,  both  to 
that  of  the  parent  and  to  that  of  the  young  at  hatch- 
ing. Precocial  birds  generally  lay  much  larger  eggs 
in  proportion  to  the  parent's  size  than  do  the  altricials. 
But  there  are  striking  variations  among  the  precocials 
for  reasons  noted  later  in  connection  with  the  number 
of  eggs.  Second,  in  relation  of  egg  size  to  that  of 
nestling,  altricial  eggs  appear  as  if  they  were  too  small 
for  the  further  development  or  perfection  of  the  em- 
bryo. This  development  may  depend  upon  absolute 


WHY   TWO   KINDS   OP  NESTLINGS? 


125 


room  within  the  shell  or  upon  the  presence  of  the 
necessary  food  for  further  growth,  or  upon  both. 
Possibly  the  latter  may  be  merely  a  lessening  of  the 
proportion  of  the  white  of  the  egg  to  the  yolk,  since 
it  is  well  known  that  precocial  birds  have  a  surplus 


English  land  rails— a  typical  precocial  family — young  solid  colored, 
adults  striped. 

of  yolk  at  hatching,  which  is  drawn  directly  within 
the  body  to  sustain  the  bird  till  it  can  provide  for 
itself ;  but  all  that  of  the  altricial  bird  is  used  up 
while  yet  within  the  shell.  Since  the  white  is  used 
up  first,  it  may  be  a  matter  of  decrease  in  the  white, 
especially  since  it  is  known  that  the  size  of  the  yolk  is 
complete  before  the  white  begins  to  form.  All  this 
would  imply  a  more  rapid  transit  of  the  egg  through 


126  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

the  oviduct,  and  hence  a  greater  rate  of  egg  deposition 
might  occur.  The  result,  from  whatever  standpoint 
considered,  is  a  smaller  egg,  which  produces  a  prema- 
ture hatching  and  much  subsequent  provision  of  food 
by  the  parent  while  the  young  is  yet  helpless.  Another 
little  fact  bears  on  our  hypothesis.  In  precocial  birds 
the  egg  tooth  (or  limelike'"  pip  "  on  the  tip  of  the  beak 
by  which,  in  hatching,  the  shell  is  broken)  is  shed  in  a 
few  days  after  they  are  out ;  but  in  the  altricials  it 
persists  much  longer,  showing  that  the  period  during 
which  its  use  was  normal  was  once  perhaps  much 
longer  or  later  after  incubation  first  began  than  now. 
So  likewise  the  naked  and  helpless  condition  hints  the 
same,  since  the  hotbed-hatched  megapode  (brush  tur- 
key), as  we  have  seen,  is  hatched  not  only  with  the 
ability  to  run,  but  passes  the  downy  state  within  the 
egg  and  is  able  at  once  to  fly  feebly  also. 

What  then  could  have  brought  about  this  decrease 
in  the  relative  size  of  the  egg  or  change  in  proportion 
of  white  to  yolk  if  such  exists  ?  It  is  a  difficult  ques- 
tion, since  progress  of  the  bird  seems  to  imply  a  less- 
ening of  the  relative  size  of  the  egg  and  a  degener- 
ation of  the  nestling.  It  is  noticed  in  a  general  way 
(of  course  with  exceptions)  that  the  relative  size  of  a 
bird's  egg  varies  with  the  number  in  the  clutch  or 
with  the  capacity  of  the  bird  to  cover  many.  Often 
perhaps  it  varies  with  both,  or  one  condition  may 
limit  the  other.  The  largest  egg  (for  the  size  of  the 
parent)  is  that  of  the  Apteryx  perhaps,  and  it  is  single. 

The  number  of  eggs  in  a  clutch  appears  to  de- 
pend— other  things  being  equal — upon  the  danger 


WHY  TWO   KINDS  OF  NESTLINGS?  127 

to  which  a  bird  is  exposed,  especially  noticeable  in 
many  ground  haunters.  But  other  correlations  may 
compensate  where  the  eggs  are  few,  such  as  fre- 
quency of  broods,  safety  of  perch  or  haunts,  or  other 
peculiar  habits,  such  as  in  the  nocturnal,  swamp- 
dwelling  habit  of  the  Apteryx.  A  bird  may  also,  by 
size  or  peculiar  weapons,  be  able  to  defend  itself  or 
its  nest  or  it  may  have  special  means  of  escape. 

A  bird  might  acquire  the  habit  of  laying  many  eggs 
while  it  was  yet  a  ground  haunter,  which  would  not  be 
kept  up  when  its  progeny  became  tree  haunters ;  for 
it  can  be  shown  that  the  laying  bird  has  some  physio- 
logical control  over  the  number  of  eggs  she  deposits 
for  one  brood,  as  we  shall  see  (in  Chapter  XXVIII). 
At  present  most  altricial  birds  are  either  tree  builders 
or  occupy  holes  or  burrows  in  the  earth  or  under 
rocks,  or  else  nest  on  high  cliffs  or  islands  inaccessible 
to  their  enemies  below  man.  But  this  start  for  pre- 
serving the  race  by  a  large  number  of  eggs  was  doubt- 
less set  up  before  birds  acquired  such  safe  nesting 
habits.  While  the  number  of  nestlings  is  now  de- 
creased because  safe  position  does  not  require  so 
many,  the  nestling  itself  is  still  held  helpless ;  for  it 
can  be  readily  seen  that  where  the  nest  is  safely  lo- 
cated, a  helpless  nestling  remaining  in  it  till  it  can  fly 
perfectly  is  the  better  condition. 

The  fact  that  all  birds  now  after  laying  the  usual 
nest  number  have  in  them  yet  other  little  dormant 
eggs  which  can  be  developed  to  order  when  needed 
for  replacing  broken  ones  or  for  second  or  third 
broods,  is  a  strong  hint  that  they  (or  their  ancestors 


128  THE  STORY  OP   THE   BIRDS. 

rather)  may  have  laid  all  these  eggs  at  a  single  sitting. 
At  least  there  is  the  possibility  of  such  a  thing  ;  and 
this  faculty  is  largely  developed  in  tree  -  haunting 
birds.  Many  ground  builders,  however,  as  our  Bob- 
white,  lay  great  numbers  of  eggs  at  one  sitting  as 
often  as  three  times  a  year. 

But  the  mere  habit  of  tree  building  or  other  safe 
nesting  habits  may  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  altricial  condition,  except  perhaps  the  naked- 
ness. Those  nestlings  that  stayed  longest  in  the  nest 
would  be  most  likely  to  be  reared ;  hence  heredity  and 
selection  would  tend  to  maintain  the  altricial  condition 
when  once  started.  Few  things  now  are  so  destruc- 
tive of  little  birds  as  their  premature  escape  from 
the  nest. 

Likewise  the  nakedness  may  have  come  about 
gradually  without  the  influence  of  the  small  egg  or 
premature  hatching.  It  is  well  known  that  many 
nestlings  that  are  long  helpless  in  the  nest  are  well 
covered  with  down,  as  young  hawks,  owls,  herons, 
etc.,  and  that  this  downy  state,  as  noted  in  Chapter 
VI,  disappears  almost  exclusively  as  soon  as  (coming 
up  the  line  of  the  bird's  development)  the  hole-build- 
ing, Picarian  group  is  reached  (see  diagram,  Chapter 
XXX).  .  It  does  not  seem  improbable,  therefore,  that 
the  down  has  been  lost  by  disuse,  because  in  holes 
there  is  no  need  for  it.  It  is  especially  noticeable 
that  the  young  of  hole  builders  in  this  group  are  the 
nudest  known.  Since  the  higher  birds  (perchers) 
come  out  of  the  region  of  these  white-egged,  hole- 
homing  ancestors,  the  naked  nestlings  in  them  are 


WHY  TWO   KINDS  OF   NESTLINGS?  129 

inherited  and  kept  from  dying  or  acquiring  more 
down  by  the  extra  care  of  the  mother  in  sitting  over 
them. 

Recently  some  new  terms,  as  substitutes  for  pre- 
cocial  and  altricial  have  been  proposed,  which  in  their 
translations  are  more  expressive  of  the  real  facts  than 
the  old  terms.  The  first  are  called  NidifugcB,  or 
nest  fleers,  and  the  second  Nidicclce,  or  nest  stayers 
or  nest  inhabitants.  But  in  further  discussion  we 
shall  use  the  old  adjectives. 


11 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

HOW    SOME    BABY    BIEDS    ARE    FED. 

IT  is  well  known  that  among  the  precocial  birds 
strictly  there  is  no  carrying  of  food  by  the  parent 
directly  to  the  young,  but  the  latter  are  led  and 
sometimes  carried  to  places  of  plenty  and  allowed  to 
help  themselves.  Often  the  mother  will  capture  food 
for  them,  or  partially  chew  it  or  break  it  up  and 
scratch  it  out,  but  only  in  a  few  cases  does  she  put  it 
directly  into  their  mouths. 

When  the  precocial  nestling  is  hatched  it  has  not 
used  up,  as  we  have  noted,  all  the  yolk  of  the  egg 
which  is  its  food  before  coming  forth,  but  a  portion 
of  it  is  drawn  directly  within  its  body,  and  furnishes 
it  nourishment  till  it  is  strong  enough  "  to  pick  up  a 
living " ;  but  the  naked,  helpless  altricial  nestling 
uses  all  its  yolk  up,  and  must  be  fed  at  once  or 
perish. 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  many  of  the  low  birds  that 
feed  the  helpless  young  in  the  nest  that  they  regur- 
gitate (or  throw  up)  the  contents  of  their  own  crops 
or  stomachs  directly  into  the  mouths  of  their  young. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  fish  eaters,  the  cor- 
morant, it  is  said,  being  able  to  digest  off  the  skin 

130 


HOW  SOME  BABY   BIRDS  ARE  FED.  131 

of  the  fish  between  the  place  of  capture  and  the 
nest. 

In  this  respect  the  petrels  go  further  and  convert 
the  fish  into  an  oily  substance  which  is  ejected  for 
the  young.  The  baby  petrel  revels  in  the  delights  of 
a  cod-liver-oil  diet  from  the  start. 

The  Pigeon  group  is  very  peculiar  even  among 
this  kind  of  birds,  in  that  the  young  inserts  its  beak 
into  that  of  the  parent  and  finds  there  at  first  not 
half -digested  food  but  a  curdlike  secretion,  or,  rather 
more  accurately,  the  thickenei  and  "  peeled  up  "  lin- 
ing of  the  parent's  crop.  Until  the  young  are  about 
nine  days'  old  this  occurs  in  both  parents,  as  an  un-v 
explained  physiological  result  of  incubation.  Toward 
the  last  of  this  period  this  curd  is  mixed  largely  with 
the  food  of  the  parent,  and  gradually  ceases  to  form 
till  the  youngster  finds  for  his  dinner  only  bread 
without  cheese. 

Only  among  the  hornbills  perhaps  is  there  found 
anything  similar.  Here  the  male  at  the  nesting  sea- 
son walls  his  mate  into  a  hollow  tree,  plastering  up 
all  the  opening  except  a  small  hole.  Through  this 
he  brings  her — and  in  due  time  her  single  nestling- 
food,  which  is  usually  fruit.  This  is  ejected  from  his 
stomach — not  the  crop.  In  casting  it  up  the  entire 
mass  is  inclosed  in  a  gelatinous  envelope  or  pellicle, 
which  is  a  temporary  lining  of  his  stomach.  The 
wrapper  goes  along  with  the  goods,  and  the  little  bird 
and  his  mother  have  long  antedated  us  in  taking  things 
in  capsules.  This  is  a  very  convenient  arrangement. 
Even  in  the  higher  birds  this  regurgitating  habit  pre- 


132  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

vails  quite  extensively.  Some  of  the  most  refined,  as 
the  purple  finch  and  others,  are  noted  as  using  it. 
Doubtless  many  others  will  yet  be  found  with  this  habit, 
especially  while  the  nestlings  are  very  young.  It  is 
only  rather  recently  that  our  Eastern  flicker  or  golden- 
shafted  woodpecker  was  discovered  practicing  this 
method  exclusively.  Here  the  parent  drives  his  long 
sharp  beak  very  forcibly  down  the  nestling's  throat, 
and,  while  the  youngster  holds  on  for  dear  life  and  a 
dinner,  a  long-continued  wriggling  process  either 
pumps  the  baby  full  or  the  parent  empty.  Both 
parents  feed  the  young,  and  both  in  this  instance 
incubate.  But  where  only  the  female  sits  she  is 
usually  fed  by  the  male  in  the  same  manner  that  he 
feeds  the  children. 

While  this  regurgitation  method  is  quite  popular 
among  the  Picarian  birds,  this  flicker  is  the  only 
woodpecker,  with  us  at  least,  that  is  known  to  prac- 
tice it.  Others  are  seen  to  enter  their  holes  with  food 
in  their  beaks,  and  the  redhead  frequently  sits  outside 
and  pounds  and  pulps  the  morsel  before  taking  it  in. 

In  case  of  the  flickers,  one  nestling  usually  occu- 
pies the  opening  of  the  hole  till  it  is  satisfied,  when 
it  drops  back  and  another  takes  its  place.  In  other 
cases  it  seems  hard  to  determine  how  the  parent 
knows  which  one  she  fed  last,  since  all  seem  usually 
equally  hungry.  It  is  surprising  how  early  the  altri- 
cial  nestling  makes  this  demand  for  food.  In  a  few 
minutes  after  the  shell  is  off  it  lifts  its  little  head 
and  gapes  from  ear  to  ear — the  most  expressive  sign 
in  all  Nature. 


HOW  SOME   BABY   BIRDS   ARE   FED.  133 

Even  among  birds  which  feed  their  young  in  the 
usual  way  there  are  doubtless  many  interesting  habits 
that  would  repay  study.  Thus,  swifts  and  swallows 
bundle  insects  under  their  tongues  (literally  as  a  sweet 
morsel),  and  after  the  young  leave  the  nest  they  are 
fed  upon  the  wing.  By  some  sign  the  parent  indi- 
cates her  readiness,  whereupon  both  fly  directly  up- 
ward till  they  meet,  when  the  morsel  is  delivered. 
Robins  bunch  great  masses  of  earthworms  in  tjieir 
beaks,  while  others,  as  our  bluebirds,  carry  them  singly. 
In  the  case  of  this  bird  it  has  been  noticed  that  if 
the  male  find  the  mother  within  delivering  her  mor- 
sel, he  often  awaits  till  she  comes  out  and  delivers  his 
to  her,  much  as  if  he  thought  she  understood  this 
baby-feeding  business  much  the  better,  and  she  takes 
it  into  the  nest. 

Closely  connected  with  this  topic  is  the  care  gen- 
erally that  bird  parents  exercise  for  their  young. 
During  the  time  of  their  weakness  there  is  usually  no 
more  devoted  mother  than  she  in  feathers.  With  the 
exception  of  the  female  ostrich,  noted  by  Job,  this 
prevails  even  among  the  lowest  birds;  and  except 
among  cowbirds  and  cuckoos  in  the  higher  groups, 
there  is  no  farming  out  the  baby  and  carrying  a  lap- 
dog.  Man  by  selective  action  has  suppressed  the 
motherly  instincts  in  some  chickens.  But  the  birds 
with  respect  to  this  have  no  reason  to  blush  in  the 
presence  of  "  our  best  society," 

The  care  for  her  chicks  by  the  common  hen  is  a  type 
of  the  motherly  care  of  all  the  fowl  forms ;  and  there 
are  no  more  devoted  mothers  than  the  ducks,  though 


THE  STORY  OP  THE   BIRDS. 

they  do  less  for  their  young  because  the  young  can 
do  more  for  themselves.  On  one  hand  (see  diagram, 
Chapter  XXX),  toward  the  divers,  the  grebe  forces 
the  young  to  dive  beneath  her  wings,  and  a  kindred 
form  (the  finfoot)  flies  with  the  nestling  clinging  to 
the  plumage.  Mother  ducks  and  others  carry  their 
young  in  their  beaks  or  upon  their  backs  to  the  water ; 
and  on  this  side  of  the  fowls,  the  woodcock  takes  her 
young  from  place  to  place  in  her  toe-grasps,  at  the 
demands  of  food  or  safety. 

Hawks,  ospreys,  owls  and  others  fairly  heap  food 
upon  the  nest  around  their  young.  It  is  well  known, 
of  course,  how  rapidly  a  nestling  grows,  and  how  it 
often  uses  each  day  a  quantity  of  food  equaling  its 
own  weight.  This  involves  an  immense  amount  of 
labor  on  the  part  of  the  parent ;  and  it  frequently 
happens  that  the  bird  must  change  its  habit  of  feed- 
ing itself  and  search  out  a  different  kind  of  food  for 
its  young — as  is  the  case  with  the  seed  eaters,  which 
feed  the  nestling  on  worms. 

This  devotion  of  the  parent  first  found  its  highest 
development  in  birds.  Some  fishes,  it  is  true,  cared 
for  the  young,  and  some  crocodiles,  among  the  rep- 
tiles, eject  food  from  their  stomachs  on  the  water  for 
their  young.  But  the  marsupial  sac  in  the  lowest 
mammals  was  perhaps  a  close  second,  while  it  is  often 
stated  that  snakes  swallow  their  young  to  protect  them 
from  danger. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  three-cornered 
duckbill,  or  platypus,  is  said  to  voluntarily  eject  its 
milk  upon  the  water,  whence  it  is  drawn  in  by  the 


Pied-billed  grebe  and  young. 


HOW  SOME  BABY  BIRDS  ARE  FED.  135 

young — a  case  of  dilution  rather  antedating  that  of 
the  newspaper  milkman,  and  a  case  of  casting  bread 
(and  milk  as  well)  upon  the  waters  antedating  the 
precept  of  the  Preacher. 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

HOW    SOME    GROWN-UP    BIKDS    GET    A    LIVING. 

WHILE,  as  noted,  some  birds  give  their  young 
food  differing  from  that  which  they  eat  when  grown, 
yet  the  rule  is  that  parent  and  children  fare  alike. 
This  is  peculiarly  the  case  with  fish  eaters  and  neces- 
sarily so  with  the  regurgitators. 

Our  last  topic,  therefore,  leads  us  into  this. 

At  the  time  when  the  ancestors  of  many  of  our 
modern  birds  all  had  teeth  the  diet  was  evidently 
not  vegetable,  but  was  more  likely  of  fish  and  other 
aquatic  life.  It  is  probable  that  either  the  bird  ceased 
to  fare  upon  flesh  or  else  took  to  gulping  its  food 
whole  without  chewing.  The  lowest  of  birds  now— 
the  ostrich  forms — are  noted  for  their  "  most  uncom- 
mon bolts  "  ;  but  their  wholesale  swallowing  of  hard 
substances  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  loss  of 
teeth  and  not  the  cause  of  it.  The  birds  are  the  first 
users  of  artificial  teeth,  but  they  shifted  them  from 
the  mouth  to  the  stomach,  and  the  dawn  of  the  gizzard 
doubtless  came  in  with  the  loss  of  the  fang  in  the  jaw. 

Flesh  eaters,  it  is  well  known,  have  small  use  for 
the  tough,  muscular,  grinding  pouch,  with  its  pebbles 
and  other  triturating  things  ;  and  in  them  it  is  often 

136 


8 

o 
-d 


HOW  SOME  GROWN-UP  BIRDS  GET  A  LIVING.   137 

a  loose  sac.  We  can,  therefore,  often  look  into  a 
bird's  digestive  apparatus  and  read  much  of  his  story. 
Some  delicate  traces  of  ancestry  and  ancestral  habits 
are  written  there  which  are  found  nowhere  else.  But 
they  are  too  technical  for  the  scope  of  this  little  book. 
Some  slight  reference  to  them  will  occur  elsewhere 
incidentally. 

JSTow,  in  glancing  at  the  feeding  habits  of  some  of 
the  birds,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Chapter  XXXI, 
where  will  be  found  the  groups  in  an  accepted  order, 
and  to  the  diagram  in  Chapter  XXX,  where  the  kin- 
ship is  indicated. 

The  ostrich  forms  usually  just  "  pick  up  a  living," 
and  are  followed  in  this  respect  by  the  fowls  and 
pigeons.  The  fowls  scratch  the  earth  and  its  cover- 
ing, and  eat  both  animal  and  vegetable  findings.  But 
the  pigeons  do  not  scratch  usually,  though  placed  in 
the  old  group  Rasores,  or  Scrapers,  and  are  almost  if 
not  entirely  confined  to  seeds  (with  us)  and  to  fruits 
(in  the  tropics).  Some  little  seed-  and  worm-eating 
birds  among  the  perchers  also  scratch,  but  with  both 
feet  instead  of  one,  unlike  the  fowl  forms. 

One  bird,  however,  among  the  ostrich  forms  feeds 
by  probing  the  soft  mud  for  living  things.  It  has  a 
long,  softly  tipped  beak,  with  the  nostrils  directly  in 
the  end  of  it,  and  surely  uses  the  sense  of  smell  in 
feeding.  It  is  the  Apteryx  of  New  Zealand — a  small, 
almost  wingless,  totally  flightless  and  flossy-feathered 
bird. 

In  its  long  decurved,  flexible  beak  there  is  a  hint 
of  the  ancestry  (as  we  shall  see  later)  of  all  the  inud- 


138  THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 

probing  snipe  forms.  Some  of  these  have  the  upper 
prong  of  the  beak  so  flexible  that  it  can  be  bent  into 
a  hook  with  which  to  pull  the  earthworm  out.  Many 
others  of  them  have  beaks  that  are  soft  at  or  near  the 
tip  to  feel  with,  and  all  have .  the  nostrils  low  down 
and  grooves  along  the  beak  to  allow  them  to  smell. 
All  feed  in  water,  swamps,  or  rather  damp  earth,  and 
largely  neglect  vegetable  diet,  especially  seeds.  All 
except  woodcocks  have  their  legs  naked  above  the 
joint  for  wading.  In  this  Plover-snipe  group  there 
are  many  peculiar  shapes,  curves,  etc.,  given  the  bill 
in  keeping  with  feeding  habits.  Some  are  bent  down, 
others  up,  and  one  sidewise  to  feed  around  under 
stones.  One  is  spoon-shaped  at  the  end,  and  another 
is  flat  and  thin,  like  a  knife,  vertically  to  probe  narrow 
crevices.  Likewise  their  feet  are  modified  for  simple 
running  by  the  loss  or  elevation  of  the  rear  toe,  and 
by  the  growth  of  two  kinds  of  swimming  membranes. 

Near  by  their  cousins  the  rails  show  a  stronger 
likeness  to  the  Apteryx  in  structure,  shape,  and  habit, 
but  not  in  beak.  Their  feet  are  simply  spread  by  the 
lengthening  of  toes  (but  not  webbed)  that  they  may 
walk  over  scums  and  slush,  but  their  hind  toe  is  low 
and  clasping  that  they  may  climb  up  reeds  also.  So 
important  is  this  arrangement  that  a  form  (the  ja- 
canas)  that  stands  between  these  and  the  plovers,  in 
order  to  preserve  the  typical  raillike  foot  and  yet  get 
much  spread,  has  its  claws  very  greatly  elongated, 
that  it  may  walk  on  floating  leaves,  lily  pads,  etc. 
These  do  not  dive  as  a  rule  for  food. 

But  on  the  other  side  of  the  rails  are  the  galli- 


HOW  SOME  GROWN-UP  BIRDS  GET  A  LIVING.   139 

nules,  which  are  more  aquatic,  have  swimming  mem- 
branes on  their  feet,  and  while  vegetable  feeders  to 
some  extent  they  dive  for  food  ;  and  beyond  are  the 
grebes — divers  almost  strictly  with  legs  set  far  back 
for  it,  but  rather  shallow  water  haunters.  Beyond 
still  are  the  loons — often  called  divers — which  haunt 
deeper  waters  and  live  on  fish  only,  being  able  to  fly 
under  water,  and  actually  pursue  and  capture  the  fish. 
Further  waterward  still  are  the  auks,  with  very  short 
wings  and  habits  that  keep  them  always  at  sea  and 
rarely  in  the  air  except  when  migrating.  Further  on 
this  aquatic  trend  finds  at  the  south  pole  its  extreme 
in  the  penguins,  whose  wings  have  lost  their  feathery 
form  and  appear  as  fins,  and  flight  under  water  is  all 
that  is  left  to  them  since  flight  in  the  air  was  aban- 
doned. They  are  almost  helpless  afoot  on  land. 

More  landward  from  the  grebe-loon  region  starts 
the  geese,  ducks  and  swans.  Some  (sea)  ducks  dive 
exclusively  for  fish,  and  have  teethlike  notches  in  the 
edges  of  their  beaks  ;  other  ducks  and  the  geese  haunt 
the  edges  of  the  water  wrhere  it  is  shallow,  and  have 
strainers  on  the  margins  of  their  flat  scooping  bills  to 
let  the  water  through  and  yet  retain  the  small  animal 
creatures.  Many  eat  vegetable  green  parts  and  seeds 
also,  and  some  geese  graze  almost  exclusively  and  have 
long  legs — a  sort  of  storkward  or  waderward  hint. 
The  swan  develops  the  long  neck  for  reaching  from 
the  surface,  and  the  flamingo  has  both  long  legs  and 
neck  and  retains  a  strainer  beak,  but,  unlike  the  goose 
forms,  the  beak  is  bent  down,  and  he  uses  it  upside 
down,  as  if  standing  on  his  head.  He  has  the  fringes, 
12 


140  THE   STORY   OP  THE  BIRDS. 

therefore,  on  the  upper  prong  of  his  bill.  He  is  a  con- 
necting link  in  feeding  habits  between  the  geese  with 
long  legs,  the  swans  with  long  necks,  and  the  waders 
which  have  both,  but  omit  the  bill  fringes. 

Now,  lying  near  all  these  short- winged  divers,  and 
also  stretching  out  on  one  edge  toward  the  plovers 
and  on  another  toward  the  storkljke  waders,  is  a  group 
of  divers  that  fly  well.  The  gull  forms,  which  are 
most  ploverlike,  feed  much  awdng  by  picking  up 
from  the  water's  surface  floating  things.  They  swim 
on  the  surface,  rarely  diving  deep.  Some  of  them 
pursue  other  birds  that  have  prey,  rob  the  fish  out  of 
the  pouch  of  the  pelican  and  are  freebooters  generally. 
In  many  respects  they  have  the  spirit  of  the  birds 
of  prey.  They  dart  also  upon  fish  from  above,  and 
one  plows  the  water  in  flight  with  a  knifelike  beak  in 
hopes  of  running  through  a  shoal  of  fishes. 

In  them  flight  has  found  a  high  development. 
Occasionally  terns  feed  over  the  land,  darting  grace- 
fully down,  seizing  a  worm,  etc.,  tossing  it  into  the 
air  and  catching  it  again — all  without  alighting.  The 
petrel  forms  feed  similarly,  diving  slightly,  and  are 
the  most  exclusively  midocean  haunters  of  all  birds. 

Some  of  the  Pelican -cormorant  group  feed  by  div- 
ing from  the  air  on  to  fish  beneath  the  surface,  as 
gannets,  and  others  by  pursuing  the  fish  beneath  the 
surface,  as  the  cormorants.  They  are  wonderfully 
cushioned  with  air  spaces  beneath  the  skin  to  resist 
shock  in  striking  the  water,  and  most  of  them  have  a 
sack  below  the  bill  to  store  fish  in  or  to  act  as  a  scoop 
or  net  in  surface  fishing. 


HOW  SOME  GROWN-UP  BIRDS  GET  A  LIVING. 


Now,  running  toward  the  plovers  in  one  direc- 
tion, toward  the  rails  in  the  other,  toward  the  geese 
forms  in  a  third,  and  the  pelican  forms  in  the  fourth, 
with  some  bird-of-prey  tendencies  in  the  fifth,  is  a 
group  of  birds  known  as  waders,  composed  of  two 
orders — the  crane  forms  and  the  heron  or  stork  forms. 
These  two  do  not  show  such  strong  relationship  ex- 
cept in  feeding  habits.  Both  are  usually  characterized 
by  long  wading  legs  "  with  the  pants  rolled  up  high," 
and  long,  narrow  and  sharp-pointed  beaks  for  spearing 
and  reaching  deep  into  the  water.  They  often  thrust 
the  beak  unopened  into  the  prey.  Some  heron  forms, 
however  (spoonbill,  ibis), 
have  a  spoon-shaped  bill, 
bent  bills,  boat  -  shaped 
bills,  etc.,  in  keeping  with 
their  habits,  and  the  beak 
is  also  varied  in  the  crane 
forms.  One  of  these,  the 
seriema,  has  a  hawk- 
shaped  beak.  We  can  not 
dwell  upon  the  peculiar- 
ities of  the 
these  groups, 
the  forms,  as  storks,  are 
almost  exclusively  up- 
land. 

The  seizing  claws  and 
tearing  hooked  beaks  of 
all  the  birds  of  prey  render  their  method  of  feeding  well 
known.     Here  is  the  first  use  of  the  foot  as  a  prey- 


feeding  of 
Some  of 


A  typical  seizing  foot  of  the  bald 
eagle.     (Chapman.) 


142  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

grasping  member,  and  here  conies  in  the  first  tendency 
among  the  birds  to  prey  on  each  other.  This,  how- 
ever, had  prevailed  long  ago  among  the  lower  creatures, 
and  in  the  land-haunting  reptiles  that  show  nearest 
kinship  to  birds  there  were  evident  modifications  for 
preying  upon  each  other.  In  these  cases  the  rule  is 
that  the  prey  is  captured  with  the  foot  and  usually 
killed  with  it.  The  most  terrible  armament  of  talons 
prevail  and  a  remarkable  development  of  strength  of 
grasp.  The  hook  on  the  beak  alone,  with  the  jaws 
closed,  is  frequently  used  to  lay  out  a  victim,  as  the 
lion  uses  his  unsheathed  paw. 

Some  of  the  low  forms  of  this  group,  as  the  car- 
rion vultures,  are  not  so  well  armed.  Indeed,  they 
scarcely  have  a  foot  fit  for  grasping.  They  are  won- 
derfully endowed  for  soaring  flight,  keen  sight  and 
scent,  depending  mostly  upon  the  former  two.  From 
these  run  all  gradations  to  the  true  falcons  which  eat 
nothing  that  they  slay  not  themselves,  and  rarely 
attack  a  sitting  object.  In  them  is  found  not  neces- 
sarily the  highest  form  of  flight,  but  its  best  form  for 
darting  upon  a  victim.  Perhaps  in  all  Nature  there 
is  nothing  so  fine  as  an  exhibition  of  skill  and  daring 
as  the  swoop  of  a  bird  of  prey,  though  there  is  no 
comparison  in  bravery  with  the  attacks  of  some  mam- 
mals. 

The  owls  are  usually  night  prowlers.  They  are 
endowed  with  large  eyes  and  soft  flight  by  means  of 
specially  shaped,  recurved  feather  tips,  so  that  they  may 
noiselessly  steal  upon  their  prey.  The  ear  is  also  so 
shaped  as  to  gather  sounds  from  below.  They  are 


HOW  SOME  GROWl^-UP  BIRDS  GET  A  LIVING.   143 

not,  as  a  rule,  so  cannibalistic  as  the  hawks.  While 
the  larger  catch  fowls,  the  smaller  owls  subsist  mostly 
upon  small  mammals. 

Of  course,  it  is  well  known  that  the  osprey  takes 
fish  exclusively,  grabbing  them  with  its  feet.     Both 


Peregrine  falcon,  the  most  skilled  bird  of  prey. 

it  and  the  owls  have  the  outer  toe  well  spread  back- 
ward to  increase  the  certainty  of  grasp — a  sort  of 
shotgunlike  arrangement  that  a  skilled  marksman  as 
an  eagle  or  falcon  would  disdain.  Kites  are  large 
consumers  of  snakes,  eating  them  as  they  fly,  and  the 
secretary  bird  makes  war  upon  them  also,  striking 
them  down  with  its  spurred  wings. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 

TOOLS    AND    TASKS    AMONG    THE    BIRDS. 

may  look  at  this  question  of  a  bird  providing 
for  its  comfort  in  a  more  philosophic  and  helpful  way 
than  that  of  simply  narrating  the  kind  of  food  and  the 
feeding  habits.  We  see  in  many  groups  a  general  type 
of  beaks  all  adapted  to  similar  uses,  as  when  all  birds 
had  teeth ;  but  when  birds  grew  older  they  branched 
into  some  forms  with  tools  very  peculiarly  shaped 
(specialized)  for  specific  purposes.  Thus  the  beak  of 
the  Apteryx,  already  noted,  is  very  different  from  that 
of  its  fellow  ostrich  forms. 

Now,  we  can  never  know  whether  the  ancestors 
of  this  bird,  by  some  sudden  and  extensive  variation, 
were  endowed  with  a  longer  beak  than  the  usual  clap- 
trap shape  of  the  others  and  then  took  to  prodding 
with  it,  or  whether  it  took  to  prodding  first  with  an 
ordinary  beak  and  by  the  slightest  favorable  varia- 
tions developed  the  present  shape.  This  latter  case 
would  be  an  instance  where  the  usual  natural-selec- 
tion argument  would  prevail,  as  follows :  The  bird 
having  the  longest  beak  would  prod  the  deepest ;  the 
one  with  the  slimmest,  sharpest  beak  would  thrust 
the  quickest ;  the  one  with  the  most  sensitive  beak 

144 


TOOLS  AND  TASKS  AMONG  THE  BIRDS. 

would  feel  the  surest ;  and  the  one  having  the  nos- 
trils nearest  the  tip  would  smell  the  best.  Hence  in 
the  struggle  for  existence  in  the  ancient  swamps  the 
birds  that  had  all  these  fortuitous  combinations 
would  most  likely  survive  and  be  the  ancestors  of 
other  fortunately  endowed  birds.  But  this  view  does 
not  at  all  account  for  the  reason  why  one  of  these 
good  qualities  does  not  develop  beyond  the  other; 
why  the  long  bill  might  not  be  better  than  the  sensi- 
tive bill,  and  why  feeling  highly  developed  might  not 
suppress  smell.  There  is  what  is  called  a  "  nice  cor- 
relation "  of  all  these  factors  here  that  mere  selection 
does  not  account  for.  Neither  can  the  effects  of  use 
only  account  for  the  change,  since  there  is  surely 
nothing  in  the  act  of  prodding  that  would  tend  to 
make  a  beak  slimmer  and  softer — in  fact,  just  the 
contrary.  There  is  then  in  the  making  of  this  tool 
other  forces  that  we  know  not  of  which  nicely  balance 
all  these  shaping  factors  to  a  certain  end,  as  if  a  Great 
Power  of  Purpose  throbbed  beneath  them  all. 

Nevertheless  it  can  in  most  instances  be  shown 
that  all  forms  of  organisms  have  been  brought  about 
gradually,  and  we  can  frequently  see  many  of  the 
developing  forces ;  and  in  our  present  discussion  we 
may  perceive  how  the  tool  has  usually  been  adapted 
to  the  task.  Some  species  of  Apteryx  have  shorter 
beaks  than  others.  Thus  the  change  in  the  style  of 
feeding  or  the  nature  of  the  food  at  hand  may  have 
set  up  the  fringes  on  the  bills  and  tongues  of  ducks ; 
the  pelican's  rear  toe  was  webbed  forward  with  the 
others  (from  an  evident  condition  when  it  was  once 


146  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

free  and  opposable)  at  the  demands  of  better  swim- 
ming, and  the  flamingo's  bill  is  bent  down  and  fringed 
on  its  upper  prong  only,  not  that  he  should  feed  as  if 
standing  on  his  head,  but  because  he  did  do  it. 

All  these  cases  partake  of  the  same  nature  generally 
as  the  development  of  the  bird's  wing  :  not  so  much 
that  it  might  fly  as  that  it  attempted  it.  Nature  does 
her  best  for  any  creature  in  its  chosen  environment. 
If  the  snake  insists  on  wriggling  instead  of  running  on 
legSj  she  takes  away  the  useless  organs,  and  adapts 
the  creature  by  alterations  and  neat  adjustments  of 
other  parts  for  his  new  mode  of  motion.  If  creatures 
haunt  caves,  then  useless  eyes  go ;  if  they  ride  on 
others,  they  lose  legs  and  wings ;  and  if  they  haunt 
the  stomachs  of  others,  they  may  even  lose  their 
stomachs. 

But  there  are  other  instances  where  the  task 
seems  to  come  about  because  the  tool  is  ready  at 
hand.  Certain  habits  are  set  up  because  the  ability, 
capacity  or  means  for  practicing  them  are  present. 
Thus  the  practice  of  the  vultures,  petrels  and  other 
organisms  in  ejecting  disgusting  food  for  defense  is 
the  result  of  the  capacity  for  doing  it,  which  is  purely 
incidental  to  their  manner  of  feeding. 

So  likewise  a  creature  in  a  new  environment  may 
carry  with  it  an  old  tool  of  some  ancestor,  which  was 
quite  useful  in  the  former  state  for  a  certain  purpose, 
but  may  remain  for  a  while  or  forever  a  useless  ves- 
tige in  the  present.  Again,  it  may  be  used  here  for 
another  purpose  and  retained  in  this  new  capacity ; 
and  its  presence  may  set  up  new  habits.  Let  us 


TOOLS  AND   TASKS  AMONG   THE  BIRDS.      147 

glance  now  at  the  feeding  habits  of  a  few  higher 
birds  in  this  light. 

Next  after  the  owls  (in  our  arrangement  at  Chap- 
ter XXX)  come  the  parrots.  Some  systematists  think 
them  akin  to  owls,  as  shown  by  the  white  egg,  reversed 
outer  toe,  hooked  beak,  etc.,  common  to  both.  Now, 
if  the  parrot  inherited  these  from  the  owls,  he  uses 
the  toe  arrangement  not  as  a  grabber  so  much  as  a 
hand  to  hold  food  in  while  he  eats,  and  the  hooked 
tip  of  the  beak  is  not  a  tearing  instrument,  but  a 
means  of  preventing  substances  from  slipping  out 
while  being  ground  against  the  filelike  surface  in  the 
roof  of  the  mouth.  Evidently  this  bony  file  is  a  de- 
velopment depending  upon  the  hook,  a  case  where  an 
old  tool  in  a  new  use  provokes  others.  Still,  this  old 
tool  may  cause  its  own  use,  if  the  old  conditions 
should  prevail.  When  sheep  became  abundant  in 
New  Zealand  a  certain  parrot  left  off  fruit  eating,  and 
•with  its  hooked  beak  dug  holes  in  the  animal  as  effec- 
tively as  did  ever  any  eagle. 

But  another  new  use  of  hooked  beak  and  paired 
toes  may  have  kept  these  tools  present  and  useful  in 
the  parrots,  and  set  up  the  new  habits  of  climbing 
and  roosting  by  them. 

The  case  of  the  paired  toes  in  the  cuckoos  is  much 
more  difficult.  They  are  not  close  akin  to  owls,  and 
it  is  likely  that  other  conditions  have  brought  this 
arrangement  about.  Their  near  relatives  (and  prob- 
able ancestors)  are  the  plantain  eaters — fruit  eaters  by 
name  and  habit — but  our  cuckoos  are  mostly  cater- 
pillar consumers  and  spider  eaters.  That,  since  ac- 


148  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

quiring  paired  toes,  their  habits  have  largely  changed 
is  shown  by  some  of  them,  as  road  runners,  taking  to 
ground  haunting — a  condition  where  two  toes  in  the 
rear  is  really  in  the  way,  since  the  best-formed  birds 
for  running  either  lose  the  rear  toe  or  have  it  small 
and  much  elevated.  The  cuckoos'  remote  ancestry 
runs  by  the  way  of  the  trees  doubtless  where  paired 
toes  were  useful  in  clinging. 

We  will  dwell  a  little  upon  the  interesting  group 
of  the  woodpeckers  and  pass  on  more  hurriedly,  for 
we  can  not  discuss  all  the  peculiarities  of  these  very 
remarkable  birds. 

In  the  woodpeckers  there  is  a  wonderful  series  of 
specializations  or  modifications  of  the  usual  tools  in 
keeping  with  an  upright  position  on  a  tree  trunk 
and  the  habit  of  digging  into  it.  The  outer  toe  is 
reversed  alongside  of  the  rear  when  at  rest,  but  in  use 
it  is  often  set  out  horizontally,  ready  to  pull  the  bird 
suddenly  around  the  trunk.  It  seems  as  if  its  rever- 
sion might  have  come  about  through  its  use  in  this 
way.  Evidently  it  is  not  now  needful  in  limb  clasp- 
ing, since  few  woodpeckers  sit  across  small  limbs ; 
neither  is  it  necessary  in  climbing  as  the  woodpecker 
climbs — a  well-known  method,  very  unlike  that  of  the 
parrots.  The  ordinary  type  of  foot  is  as  good  if  not 
better  for  simply  ascending  a  trunk,  as  seen  in  nut- 
hatches, brown  creepers,  etc.,  which  are  more  agile  on 
an  upright  surface.  Besides,  the  typical  foot  for 
simply  clinging  to  rough  upright  surfaces  has  all  the 
toes  front,  as  seen  in  some  swifts.  Some  wood- 
peckers even  have  the  true  rear  (or  inner  back)  toe 


Hairy  woodpecker.     Yellow-bellied  sapsucker. 
Note  the  side  reach  of  reversed  outer  toe. 


TOOLS  AND   TASKS  AMONG  THE  BIRDS.      149 

gone  and  the  outer  reversed  in  its  place.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  this  true  rear  toe  disappeared  in 
these  birds  by  disuse  because  of  this  constant  up- 
right posture,  and  that  the  outer  is  there  because  of 
the  dodging  around  habit.  Later  habits  of  occasional 
sitting  across  limbs  have  prevented  the  rear  toes  of 
others  from  going,  and  have  given  the  outer  toe  also 
a  limb-grasping  use.  In  keeping  also  with  this  up- 
right posture  the  tail  feathers  are  stiffened  and  spi- 
nous  at  the  tip,  to  aid  in  supporting  the  body. 

The  great  specializations  in  favor  of  these  birds, 
bearing  directly  on  feeding  habits,  are  the  strong 
chisel- pointed  straight  beak  and  the  long  protruding, 
horn-tipped  and  barbed  tongue,  especially  covered 
with  slime.  The  beak  is  also  much  stiffened,  and  the 
tongue,  besides  being  slimy  to  hold  the  grub,  is  so  set 
that  it  may  be  darted/tfr  out  with  great  force  to  pierce 
it.  Our  flickers  feed  on  the  ground  partly,  digging  for 
ants  and  using  the  tongue  for  capture,  and  the  near 
kin  of  the  woodpeckers,  the  wrynecks,  pick  up  all 
their  living  this  way.  If  the  woodpecker  change  his 
habit  his  beak  may  change  with  him,  since  the  earth- 
digging  flicker's  beak  is  not  especially  chisellike,  but 
sharp  pointed  and  curved  down. 

Nature  may  compensate  by  special  habits  for 
many  deficiencies  of  special  tools.  The  imperfection 
of  a  tool  may  set  up  a  new  task  or  lighten  one.  To 
illustrate  :  Both  woodpeckers  and  nuthatches  nest  in 
holes.  The  former  opens  his  by  splintering  all  the 
wood  into  a  solid  tree  away,  but  a  nuthatch  with 
his  poor  beak  makes  punctures  in  a  circle,  and 


150  THE   STOKY   OP  THE   BIRDS. 

cuts  a  bung- shaped  piece  out  of  the  side  of  some 
cavity ;  the  woodpecker  rarely  uses  a  knothole  for  a 
beginning ;  but  the  nuthatch  (European)  may  plaster 

up  with  mud  a  (too 
large)  natural  opening 
or  (American)  enlarge 
one  to  suit. 

Out  the  other  way,  beyond 
the  owls,  runs  another  group  of 
birds  that  are  mostly  insect  eat- 

The  head  of  nuthatch.  n    •          i  •    i  /  n 

ers,  nymg  by  night  usually,  as 
the  whip-poor-will,  night  hawks,  etc.  Some  of  the 
lower  forms,  like  the  owls,  eat  mice,  but  normally 
they  are  all  provided  with  broad  deep  gapes,  and 
some  have  hairlike  feathers  on  each  side  to  broaden 
their  aim  in  catching  flying  things  in  the  gloom. 

Close  akin  to  these  are  the  swifts,  with  similar 
habits  by  day,  and  out  from  these,  with  similar  wings, 
comes  the  hummingbirds.  These  get  a  mixed  diet 
of  insects  and  honey,  and  doubtless  got  their  hum- 
ming habits  because  flowers  were  too  weak  for  them 
to  perch  upon.  In  them  the  beak,  like  that  of  the 
Apteryx,  has  gone  from  the  widest  in  their  ancestors 
near  the  swifts  to  the  slimmest  known  in  Nature,  so 
as  to  pick  ont  the  gnat ;  and  the  tongue  has  grown 
long  and  fringe- tipped  to  lap  up  the  nectar,  and  is 
thin  and  membranous  on  the  edge  that  it  may  be 
rolled  into  tubes  to  absorb  it. 

Other  members  of  this  Picarian  group  feed  upon 
fruits  and  small  animals,  and  have  various  interesting 
habits.  The  kingfishers,  as  we  know  them,  dart 


TOOLS  AND   TASKS  AMONG   THE   BIRDS.      151 

down  upon  fish,  but  many  of  them  in  the  tropics  feed 
on  insects.  There  is  in  this  last  division  of  these 
birds  a  peculiar  tendency  to  have  an  abnormal  bunch- 
ing of  the  toes  or  to  be  deficient  in  the  number  of 

o 

joints ;  and  they  nearly  all  have  weak  legs.  This  all 
comes  about  doubtless  by  the  little  use  of  their  feet 
while  feeding,  drinking,  etc.,  so  much  upon  the  wing. 
The  trogons  have  the  inner  toe  reversed. 

But  we  must  pass  on.  We  can  touch  only  upon 
the  more  interesting  phases  of  feeding  among  the 
true  perchers  or  Passeres. 

Of  our  American  birds  the  lowest  of  these  in  our 
arrangement  is  the  flycatcher  family,  of  which  our 
kingbird,  phoebe,  crested  flycatcher  and  wrood  pewee 
are  types.  They  take  their  food  mostly  flying,  and 
have  broad  flat  bills  with  outlying  bristles.  Some 
birds,  as  woodpeckers,  nuthatches,  etc.,  with  slim 
beaks  take  flies  also  awing. 

The  crow  forms,  including  jays,  blackbirds,  etc., 
are  well  known  to  be  omnivorous,  with  a  taste  for  eggs 
and  nestlings,  sprouting  corn,  etc.  At  its  finchward 
margin  is  the  meadow  lark,  a  digger,  and  the  orioles 
that  hang  at  the  twig  tips  in  search  of  gnats.  All 
are  really  useful  to  the  farmer  and  horticulturist 
when  taken  the  year  through.  More  finchward  are 
the  cowbird  and  bobolink,  with  stout  short  seed- 
crushing  beaks,  and  are  evidently  connecting  links. 

The   finch   forms  (including  sparrows,  buntings, 

grosbeaks,    tanagers,   towhees,    etc.)   have   usually  a 

strong  crushing  beak,  often  with  cutting  edges  (as 

the  cardinals),  and  are  typical  seed  eaters,  but  their 

13 


152  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

diet  is  by  no  means  strictly  vegetable.  Towhees 
scratch  in  the  leaves  for  grubs,  wagtails  haunt  the 
edge  of  swamps  for  little  living  things,  and  the 
honey  creeper  feeds  on  juices  and  nectars. 

The  warbler  forms,  into  which  the  finch  forms 
grade,  feed  variously  also,  but  they  use  little  vege- 
table matter.  Some  have  ground -haunting  and  even 
swamp-haunting  habits,  others  have  fringed  tongues 
hinting  of  juices  and  nectars,  while  tree-trunk  ex- 
ploring, as  in  the  creepers,  nuthatches,  titmice,  etc., 
also  prevails. 

The  vireos  or  greenlets  are  strictly  arboreal  and, 
having  a  hook  on  the  beak,  they  have  been  thought 
by  some  to  lead  toward  the  butcher  bird  or  shrike, 
which  has  many  of  the  habits  of  a  bird  of  prey.  Its 
only  endowment  that  way  is  a  strong  hooked  beak 
and  muscular  build.  It  usually  kills  little  birds  by 
piercing  the  brain  or  snatching  off  the  head  or  un- 
jointing  the  neck  at  the  head,  and  it  is  so  expert  at 
it  that  the  motions  can  not  be  always  perceived — the 
act  being  even  sometimes  accomplished  while  both 
birds  are  flying.  Its  food  also  is  mice,  grasshop- 
pers, etc.  It  has  the  habit  of  impaling  its  victims 
on  thorns,  apparently  as  a  feature  of  storing  or 
hoarding. 

The  wrens  appear  akin  to  the  warbler  forms  via 
the  wren-tits,  and  are  almost  exclusively  insect  or  grub 
eaters,  sometimes  tackling  spiders  also  so  large  as  to 
make  quite  a  battle. 

Thrashers  also  eat  fruit  in  season.  Bluebirds  in 
the  thrush  forms  eat  fruit  in  winter  only,  but  the 


TOOLS   AND  TASKS  AMONG  THE   BIRDS,      153 

robin  eats  anything.  The  other  thrushes  confine 
themselves  more  to  an  insect  diet. 

Here  comes  in  again  a  striking  example  of  how 
habit  may  precede  structure — the  task  outrun  the 
tool — as  exemplified  by  the  dippers  or  water  ousels. 
They  stand  on  the  border  where  the  wrens  merge 
into  the  thrushes  and  have  no  external  endowments 
that  are  not  possessed  by  either,  and  yet  they  are  as 
aquatic  almost  as  a  duck.  They  not  only  feed  on  the 
margin,  but  they  dive  into  rapid  streams,  walk  on 
their  bottoms,  and  swrim  against  their  currents  by  a 
fluttering  of  the  wings.  It  shows  what  a  strong  will 
may  do  in  spite  of  special  tools.  The  only  effect  thus 
far  that  these  habits  and  new  environments  have  had 
is  to  thicken  the  down  beneath  the  feathers.  When 
the  bird  wishes  to  fly  it  simply  shakes  the  water  out 
of  its  plumage  and  is  gone  much  as  a  wren  goes. 

Above  the  thrushes  we  have  no  American  birds. 
There  are  some  Old  World  caterpillar  eaters,  and  a 
peculiar  group  of  flycatchers,  with  the  usual  shaped 
beak  and  gape.  These  are  thought  to  stand  near  the 
thrushes,  and  near  to  these  last  perhaps  stand  the 
swallows  with  their  swiftlike  shape  and  habits. 

We  have  seen  enough  to  feel  that  while  a  bird  in 
his  way  of  getting  a  living  may  differ  widely  from 
his  near  associates,  yet  he  may  show  as  he  eats  his 
feathered  social  status  and  hint  the  story  of  his  de- 
velopment in  the  use  of  his  knife  and  his  fork. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HOW    A    BIRD    GOES    TO    BED. 

SLEEPING  follows  eating  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence in  many  animals,  and  our  present  topic  is  not 
so  far  removed  from  the  last  as  it  might  appear.  Of 
course,  young  altricial  birds  are  always  abed  till  they 
can  fly,  for  the  nest  is  not  only  a  typical  cradle,  but 
many  that  are  built  on  bough  tips  or  hang  suspended 
are  literally  such.  The  purpose  of  their  location  and 
style  of  structure  was  not  to  rock  the  nestlings  to 
sleep,  however,  but  to  provide  for  them  safety  by 
putting  them  where  an  enemy  could  not  easily  get  to 
them.  Thus  must  the  facts  in  the  case  dispose  of  the 
sentiment. 

But  precocial  nestlings  must  go  to  bed,  and  "  as 
a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wing,"  so  is 
the  usual  procedure  where  the  parents  literally  put 
the  children  to  sleep.  Later,  when  too  large  for  this, 
the  young  crouch  on  the  ground  around  the  parent  or 
fly  up  to  roost  near  her. 

Only  a  few  birds  are  so  social  as  to  sit  in  the  com- 
pact clusters  seen  in  our  Bob -whites,  where  with  tails 
inward  they  all  actually  touch  each  other,  with  a  head 
out  every  way  for  watching  and  for  easy  escape  with- 

154 


HOW  A  BIRD   GOES  TO  BED.  155 

out  interference.  Floods  in  the  wooded  bottoms  may 
compel  them  to  roost  in  trees,  however.  Our  Western 
partridges  nearly  all  roost  in  trees. 

We  should  at  first  have  mentioned  that  all  the 
ostrich  forms  roost  squatting  on  the  earth.  Only  the 
Apteryx  (kiwi)  among  them  has  a  rear  toe,  whence 
there  is  little  hope  of  perching.  But  this  bird  rolls 
itself  into  a  fluffy  ball  with  scarcely  a  sign  of  neck 
and  head  or  beak  apparent.  But  the  ostrich  proper 
squats  peculiarly,  and  leaves  his  form  and  long  neck 
projecting  high.  The  cassowary,  however,  sits  humped 
in  a  very  awkward  way  upon  the  tarsi  (lower  part  of 
legs)  and  end  of  his  tail,  as  if  he  would  like  to  get 
farther  down  if  his  stiff  joints  would  allow  him. 

All  the  pigeons  and  fowl  forms  roost  with  their 
breasts  flat  down  upon  the  perch  or  surface  beneath 
them.  All  the  former  roosts  in  trees  or  holes,  perhaps, 
having  a  good  perching  foot.  Grouses  usually  sit  a 
little  apart  from  each  other  on  the  ground.  When  the 
snow  is  deep  each  may  make  him  a  kind  of  burrow 
in  the  drifts  in  winter. 

One  branch  of  the  Fowl  group  has  a  very  good, 
long,  low  down  rear  toe  like  a  pigeon,  and  are  quite 
arboreal — some  of  them,  as  the  curassows,  even  nest- 
ing in  trees. 

Many  of  the  oceanic  water  birds  roost  on  rocks  at 
regular  places,  others  on  the  water  doubtless,  and 
some,  as  the  petrels,  albatrosses,  etc.,  must  be  able  to 
sleep  a  little  while  flying  or  else  do  without  sleep  for 
considerable  periods,  since  they  have  been  known  to 
follow  slow-going  vessels  for  great  lengths  of  time. 


156  THE  STORY  OF   THE   BIRDS. 

The  Goose-duck  groups  sleep  sometimes  floating 
on  water,  often  squatting  at  its  edge.  Sometimes 
they  may  squat  simply  on  the  feeding  ground  in 
fields,  but  usually  they  have  favorite  couches,  at  least 
during  the  winter  season,  to  which  they  will  travel- 
often  after  dark — as  much  as  a  hundred  miles,  coming 
back  next  day  to  a  favorite  larder.  There  are  some 
exceptions  to  these  methods. 

The  plovers  sleep  variously,  but  all  out  of  trees  of 
course.  The  waders  generally  sleep  standing — usually 
on  one  leg,  since  one  is  found  often  much  stronger 
than  the  other.  Some  are  said  to  have  a  locking 
mechanism  to  prevent  the  joint  bending  while  asleep. 
Storks,  however,  rest  in  a  squatting  position  at  times. 
Many  ducks  and  geese  also  rest  standing  on  one  foot 
with  the  head  under  the  wing.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  many  of  these  birds  have  sentinels  that 
watch  while  others  sleep.  All  birds,  however,  are 
light  sleepers  and  are  apt  to  cry  out  or  fly  at  the  least 
sign  of  danger. 

The  birds  of  prey  have  the  peculiarity  of  roosting 
standing  on  both  feet,  never  allowing  the  body  to 
touch  the  perch.  In  the  great  capacity  of  their  ten- 
don arrangement  for  grasping,  a  crouch  brings,  per- 
haps, a  painful  tension  on  their  toes,  or  they  may  in- 
herit their  standing  tendencies  from  heronlike  ances- 
tors. Most  birds  above  them  in  the  Picarian  group 
(that  perch)  have  the  breast  down,  and  all  the  Passer es 
roost  thus.  Near  the  fowl  forms  (practicing  this)  is 
that  singular  bird  so  frequently  mentioned,  the  hoactziii 
(pronounced  wah-zeen)  of  South  America,  which  is 


HOW  A   BIRD  GOES  TO  BED.  157 

specially  adapted  to  this  habit  by  having  a  callous 
bare  notch  in  its  breast  (and  breastbone)  which  fits 
snugly  over  a  small  branch.  Many  mammals,  as 
camels,  etc.,  have  similar  callosities  (bare,  hard  places) 
to  lie  upon,  but  this  is  the  only  bird  that  "  takes  up 
its  bed  and  walks."  This  squatting  position  is  espe- 
cially helpful  to  birds  in  automatically  clasping  the 
limb  when  asleep,  since  these  tendons  in  running 
around  the  outside  of  the  (then)  Z-shaped  legs  are  in- 
cidentally tightened  by  it. 

It  has  been  usual  to  note  that  birds  have  a  special 
muscle  (the  ambiens)  whose  sole  purpose  is  to  so  au- 
tomatically render  the 
toes  clasping.  But 
since  it  flexes  the  in- 
ner and  middle  toes 
only  and  has  no  effect 
upon  the  hind  toe,  its 
use  in  connection  with 
roosting  is  not  strik- 
ing. Since  it  is  not 
found  at  all  in  the  A  fieldfare. 

true    perchers    (Pas- 
seres)  and  is   found   largely  in   low  birds,  many  of 
which  do  not  perch,  it  likely  has  (or  has  had)  more 
to  do  with  swimming  than  perching. 

Picarian  birds,  which  nest  so  largely  in  holes,  are 
apt  to  roost  there  ;  but  it  does  not  always  follow,  as 
has  been  broadly  asserted  (Burroughs),  that  a  bird  al- 
ways roosts  in  the  same  kind  of  place  in  which  it  nests. 
This  is  contradicted  in  turkeys,  Western  quails,  house 


158 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 


wrens,  and  White,  of  Selborne^  notes  that  while  the 
fieldfare  nests  in  trees  it  sleeps  upon  the  ground.  It 
is  of  course  well  known  that  some  parrots  suspend 
themselves  head  downward  from  boughs  during  sleep 
and  that  others  sleep  hanging  by  the  hooks  of  their 
beaks  on  the  insides  of  cavities.  Swifts  and  wood- 
peckers sleep  in  cavities  usually  in  the  upright  posi- 
tion, braced  by  toes  and  spinous  tail  feathers. 


Lodgings  for  the  little  birds. 


As  noted,  the  Passer es  all  sleep  sitting,  though 
some  squat  on  the  ground.  It  is  not  possible  to  at- 
tempt here  the  roosting  habits  of  all  such  as  are  known 
even,  and  some  general  statements  must  suffice. 


HOW   A   BIRD   GOES   TO   BED.  159 

Under  the  edges  of  hay  and  fodder  stacks,  in 
dense  cedars  or  other  evergreen  trees,  in  the  midst 
of  dense  dead  leaves  still  clinging  to  their  branches, 
at  tangling  intersections  of  bare  vines  and  in  any  place 
where  there  is  the  combination  of  concealment  and 
the  scantiest  protection  from  wind  or  rain,  you  may 
expect  to  find  a  little  feathered  sleeper.  Sometimes 
these  places  are  used  only  once,  and  again  they  may 
be  resorted  to  for  a  few  successive  nights  or  for  all 
winter.  It  may  be  noticed  that  if  you  simply  scare 
the  bird  away  from  his  couch  in  passing,  he  will  re- 
sume it  when  you  are  gone. 

Of  course,  some  birds,  as  rooks,  crows,  many  sea 
birds  and  others,  have  definite  rookeries,  used  for  long 
periods.  Even  our  blackbirds  show  their  kinship 
crowwards  by  their  selection  in  late  summer  of  a 
constant  location  for  sleeping.  But  many  others 
lodge — tramplike — wherever  night  overtakes  them. 
This  is  necessarily  the  case  while  migrating,  when 
birds  stop  at  night. 

Birds  go  to  bed  in  various  ways,  and  even  in  the 
same  tree  select  different  locations  on  different  nights. 
Thus,  turkeys  seem  to  deliberate  a  long  time  about 
flying  up,  and  blackbirds  sit  around  and  seem  to  quar- 
rel a  long  time  about  favorite  berths,  but  a  house  wren 
jumps  into  a  tree  crotch  like  a  boy  into  a  cold  couch,  has 
his  head  under  his  wing,  and  is  asleep  in  ten  seconds. 

Quails  and  grouses  sometimes  walk  to  their  couch 
and  sometimes  fly  to  the  region  of  it  with  a  low,  soft, 
noiseless  flight,  that  their  enemies  may  not  hear  them 
or  be  able  to  trail  them. 


160  THE  STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 

Besides  the  placing  of  the  head  under  the  wing 
practiced  by  many  birds,  many  small  sleepers  make 
special  dispositions  of  their  plumage  as  a  sort  of  night 
robe.  They  usually  fluff  it  up  till  their  shape  is  much 
changed.  It  has  been  asserted  that  this  is  done  to  pre- 
vent their  heat's  radiation,  but  it  is  more  likely  a  simple 
protective  measure  whereby  the  appearance  of  the 
body  is  made  quite  unbirdlike  at  least,  and  often  very 
like  a  knot  on  the  limb.  A  few  birds  feel  safer  on  a 
bare  perch  where  they  can  see  around  well,  as  turkey 
vultures  and  others. 


CHAPTEK  XXV. 


A    LITTLE    TALK    ON    BIRDS     TOES. 

WE  have  seen  already  that  a  bird's  toes  are  largely 
connected  with  its  feeding  habits,  and  we  have  dis- 
cussed rather  specially  those  of  the  birds  of  prey,  the 
parrots,  cuckoos,  kingfishers,  swifts,  etc.  Others  that 
are  equally  interesting  we  have  not  noticed. 

Let  us  outline  the  usual  arrangements  of  the  toes, 
using  the  old  terms  that  were  once  made  so  much  of 
in  classification. 

To  begin  at  the  true  perchers  and 
go  backward,  there  is  first  the  foot  with 
three  perfect  unwebbed  toes    in  front 
and  with  the  rear  toe  alone  behind,  and 
completely  opposable  to  the  front  mid- 
dle one.    It  is  quite 
likely  that  the  ear- 
liest  birds    had    a 
foot  something  like 
this,  though  not  so 
complete  in  all  its          Foot  of  robin7  a  typical  percher> 
parts.        It     may 

have  come  on  down  to  the  present  unmodified,  but 
there  are  some  hints  from  the  study  of  its  tendons 

161 


162  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

that  it  is  a  modern  development.  This  we  shall  see 
is  suggested  by  some  other  things  also. 

The  next  style  of  toe  arrangement  is  the  SYN- 
DACTYLE  foot  of  the  Kingfisher  group,  with  inner  and 
middle  front  toes  sheathed  together  in  a  common  sac 
up  to  near  the  tips.  (See  illustrations  to  Chapter 
XXXI.) 

The  ZYOODACTYLE  toes  of  parrots,  woodpeckers, 
cuckoos,  etc.,  are  paired  or  yoked,  two  behind,  two 
before.  The  outer  is  usually  reversed,  but  in  the 
trogons  it  is  the  inner — a  more  natural  arrangement. 
There  are  variations  and  gradations  in  each  of  these 
two  divisions.  The  owls  and  osprey  have  the  outer 
toe  capable  of  either  a  forward  or  backward  position, 
and  this  toe  is  said  to  be  "  versatile."  Some  abnor- 
mal deficiency  in  the  number  of  joints  lies  on  the 
border  of  the  syndactyle  arrangement  found  in  some 
swifts  and  kingfishers. 

The  next  peculiarities  come  in  through  the  various 
arrangement  and  extent  of  the  swimming  membranes. 
Even  in  the  high  birds  there  are  some  hints  of  the 
presence  of  these,  and  in  the  birds  of  prey  as  we  go 
down  they  are  quite  evident  as  small  webs  at  the  base 
of  the  front  toes  ;  so  also  in  pigeons  and  the  fowl 
forms.  But  it  is  as  we  approach  the  aquatic  birds 
that  we  find  their  development  useful,  although  some 
of  these  have  toes  as  destitute  of  them  as  a  finch. 

Perhaps  all  birds  swim  a  little  when  they  drop 
into  the  water,  but  often  many  of  the  perchers  persist 
in  wing-flapping  and  merely  float.  But  a  baretoed 
wader  will  swim  gracefully  at  once,  and  a  fowl  form 


A  LITTLE  TALK  ON  BIRDS'  TOES.  103 

is  near  enough  akin  to  them  to  strike  out  very  boldly 
for  a  few  minutes. 

There  are  various  gradations  of  the  extent  of  the 
web  along  the  toes  or  the  fullness  of  its  front  margin 
between  them.  When  it  comes  only  half  way  up  or 
thereabout  on  the  front  toes  only,  the  foot  is  styled 
SEMIPALMATE  ;  when  it  extends  to  the  claws  (though 
it  may  be  cut  back  much  between  the  toes)  it  is  sim- 
ply PALMATE,  and  when  there  is  a  membrane  between 
all  the  toes,  binding  even  the  rear  toe  forward  with 
the  rest,  the  foot  is  said  to  be  TOTIPALMATE,  as  seen 
only  in  the  pelican  forms.  Some  ducks,  however, 
have  a  thin  membrane  hanging  to  the  opposable  and 
elevated  rear  toe,  seemingly  much  as  if  it  had  been 
torn  loose  from  the  totipalmate  form. 

Then  there  is  the  swimming  foot  that  is  slightly 
palmate  at  its  base,  but  has  flaps  upon  the  margins  of 
the  toes,  as  in  gallinules,  grebes,  phalaropes,  etc.  In 
some  of  these  the  membranes  are  distinct,  for  each 
joint  of  the  toe  is  lobed,  while  in  others,  as  the 
grebes,  the  membranes  are  nearly  straight-edged.  In 
grebes  the  rear  toe  has  also  a  membrane.  This  style 
of  foot  has  the  appearance  of  a  palmate  foot  that  has 
been  split  down  part  way  between  the  toes,  but  it  is 
much  more  likely  that  these  membranous  margins 
have  been  developed  up. 

In  fact,  all  swimming  membranes  are  likely  but 
simple  and  often  recent  developments  of  the  skin  on 
the  margin  of  the  toes  necessarily  flattened  beneath 
by  the  bird's  weight.  As  they  appear  to  be  easily  ac- 
quired and  lost,  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  have 


THE  STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 

been  at  times  more  extensive  or  less  so  in  the  bird's 
past  history.  Even  some  dogs  acquire  them  while 
others  have  not,  and  they  are  so  easily  influenced  that 
some  dry-land  amphibians  put  them  on  at  the  social 
season  when  they  go  into  the  water  and  shed  them 
when  they  leave.  Many  birds,  as  our  Northern 
grouses,  expand  the  same  margin  into  a  fringed 
snowshoe  to  use  in  winter  to  broaden  their  tread, 
and  they  shed  it  again  in  summer.  A  close  study 
of  webs  is  therefore  interesting  as  bearing  upon  the 
history  of  the  bird's  recent  habits,  but  we  can  not  fol- 
low it  further  here,  except  to  say  that  since  webs  may 
come  and  go  so  easily,  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that 
any  bird  inherited  a  webbed  foot  from  any  reptilian 
ancestor.  So  far  as  we  can  now  see,  it  is  more  likely 
that  most  of  the  modifications  of  the  feet  for  special 
uses  were  made  within  the  birds  by  their  own  peculiar 
habits. 

It  is  true  that  the  reptiles'  feet  were  also  modified 
for  similar  purposes,  showing  how  sensitive  to. use  and 
environment  the  foot  has  always  been.  We  have 
seen  that  such  reptiles  as  walked  upright  (bipedally) 
had  birdlike  feet,  rather  like  those  of  the  ostrich  forms 
of  to-day ;  and  it  may  be  possible  that  tree-haunting 
habits  had  given  some  of  them,  that  were  immediate 
ancestors  of  the  birds,  opposable  hind  toes  for  limb 
grasping,  just  as  the  toes  of  the  chameleons  are 
bunched  for  this  purpose,  and  as  the  first  toe  of  some 
low  mammals,  as  opossums  and  others,  is  opposable. 

The  bird's  foot,  however,  shows  every  indication 
of  being  based  upon  the  type  of  that  of  the  lizards. 


A  LITTLE   TALK  OX  BIRDS'  TOES.  165 

In  these  last  there  are  normally  five  toes,  all  placed 
forward.  The  first  and  fifth  are  shorter  than  the 
others,  and  doubtless  in  the  three-toed  foot  it  was 
these  marginal  toes  that  were  gone,  just  as  the  ostrich 
and  many  mammals  of  to-day  have  lost  those  on  each 
edge  of  the  foot. 

Now,  in  the  lizard's  hind  foot  the  first  toe  has 
two  joints ;  the  second  toe,  three  joints ;  the  third 
toe,  four  joints  ;  the  fourth  toe,  five  joints ;  and  the 
fifth  toe  only  four  joints,  as  in  the  third.  The  bird 
omits  the  fifth  toe,  but  its  remaining  four  run  exactly 
in  the  same  order  as  to  number  of  joints  as  the  first 
four  of  the  lizards  do. 

If  we  did  not  consider  these  things  we  could  not 
see  why  a  bird  now  should  seem  (by  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  joints)  to  have  its  outer  toe  the  most  prominent, 
when  it  is  usually  its  third  or  middle  front  toe,  which 
is  really  'the  longest,  strongest  and  most  useful.  The 
extra  number  of  joints  in  the  outer  toe  is  simply  a 
vestige  of  past  prestige  when  this  digit  also  was  more 
centrally  located. 

If  we  glance  at  a  bird's  wing  or  a  fish's  fin  (even  in 
pictures),  we  see  that  their  long  tips  are  always  on  or 
near  the  edge  farthest  away  from  the  body.  Flying  and 
swimming  strokes  are  made  more  effective  by  this  ar- 
rangement, because  the  outer  edge  moves  most  and 
fastest.  Hence,  at  a  time  when  lizards  were  aquatic 
and  a  toe,  like  the  ray  of  a  fin,  was  simply  an  instru- 
ment to  hang  a  swimming  membrane  upon,  the  outer 
was  necessarily  the  longest,  and  this  was  manifested 
in  the  increased  number  of  joints. 
14 


166  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

But  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  that  when 
sudden  spurts  of  speed  are  required  by  fluttering  in  a 
fluid  as  air  or  water,  a  shorter,  rounded  fanning  mem- 
ber is  demanded.  Hence,  in  keeping  with  safety,  the 
fin,  foot  or  wing  has  had  its  outer  rays,  toes  or  quills 
shortened.  Now  we  can,  therefore,  see  how  the  next 
to  the  outer  toe  in  lizards  became  the  longest,  and 
how  when  the  shorter  fifth  was  lost  in  the  birds  they 
were  left  with  their  outer  toe  having  the  greatest 
number  of  joints. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  neither  limb  clasping 
or  walking  on  a  flat  surface  would  have  any  tendency 
to  preserve  this  prestige,  but  would  tend  to  develop 
the  middle  front  (or  third)  toe  into  the  stronger  by  its 
greater  use  in  its  central  position.  Hence,  we  find  its 
joints  (though  only  four)  usually  lengthened  and  en- 
larged in  perching  and  walking  birds,  until  it  is  de- 
cidedly the  most  prominent.  This  same  tendency  to 
strengthen  the  middle  toe  (horse)  or  pair  of  toes  (cows, 
hogs)  and  to  lessen  the  size  of  the  outer,  or  abolish 
them  altogether  (horse,  antelope),  is  strikingly  seen 
in  many  mammals  and  is  an  interesting  study. 

Among  the  diving  birds  of  long  ago  and  in  some 
low  aquatic  birds  now  the  use  or  need  of  this  outer  toe 
to  make  a  backward  and  outward  paddling  stroke  more 
effective  has  brought  out  again  the  prestige  of  this 
outer  five-jointed  toe,  and  it  is  here  not  only  the  long- 
est, but  very  much  the  largest  in  some  cases — a  pos- 
sible instance  of  redevelopment  when  an  old  tool  is 
used  at  an  old  task  in  an  old  environment. 

In  the  leg,  above  the  bird's  toe,  are  many  interest- 


A  LITTLE   TALK  ON  BIRDS'  TOES.  167 

ing  things  that  bear  on  their  story,  but  we  can  only 
glance  at  them.  Beyond  what  in  them  seems  to  be 
the  ankle  (though  really  at  the  knuckles  in  our  hand) 
the  bones  that  were  separate  in  the  reptiles  are  fused 
together  to  form  a  stiff,  slim,  light,  swiftly  moving 
shank  (tarsus),  a  condition  brought  about  in  most  oth- 
er creatures  at  the 
demands  of  speed 
afoot.  So  also  in 
most  birds,  except 
penguins  (and  in  an 
occasional  specimen 

*  Foot  of  cormorant — a  typical  diver — show- 

any  where),  the  Small-  ing  prestige  of  outer  toe. 

er   bone  (fibula)   of 

the  next  joint  (drumstick)  is  partly  gone  or  much  fused 
to  the  other  (tibia).  Since  the  reptiles  and  Archce- 
opteryx  have  this  bone  complete  and  separate,  it  seems 
hard  to  resist  the  impression  that  this  arrangement 
also  was  brought  about  for  speed  while  running,  and 
that  all  birds  except  penguins  have  come  from  ances- 
tors that  once  became  terrestrial  after  having  acquired 
flight.  There  are  some  other  things  that  bear  in  the 
same  direction,  but  we  shall  have  to  forego  them. 

Returning  to  the  bird's  toes  in  this  connection, 
it  is  evident  that  the  rear  or  first  one,  when  lost,  is 
always  lost  in  connection  with  terrestrial  or  at  least 
nonperching  habits  ;  and  so  far  as  we  can  note  its 
gradations,  it  always  tends  to  be  opposable  and  ele- 
vated before  going. 

Perhaps  in  nothing  about  a  bird's  toes  lies  more 
of  its  history  than  in  the  tendons  that  flex  each  one 


168  THE  STORY   OF  THE   BIRDS. 

of  them,  and  in  the  various  interfacings,  fusions,  split- 
tings and  crossings  that  they  exhibit  in  various  groups. 
In  the  feet  of  the  five-toed  lizards  one  great  flat  strap, 
with  a  little  splitting  up  in  the  most  regular  order, 
bent  their  toes  all  by  a  common  pull,  but  in  the  birds 
there  began  with  the  separate  use  of  the  opposable 
first  toe  a  series  of  changes  and  separations,  reunit- 
ings  and  resplitting  of  strands,  till  in  the  true  perch- 
ers  the  hind  toe  appropriates  to  itself  the  sole  use  of 
a  distinct  tendon.  When  some  swifts  put  all  their 
toes  front,  Nature  gave  them  again  something  similar 
to  the  flat  strap  of  the  reptiles,  even  upon  the  very 
border  of  the  Passer es. 

Thus  we  can  see  how  there  lies  yet  largely  unread 
in  the  arrangement,  the  webbing,  the  jointing,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  arrangements  for  bending,  a  large  chap- 
ter of  the  story  of  the  birds. 


CIIAPTEK  XXVI. 

THE    WAY    OF    A    BIKD    IN    THE    AIR. 

have  seen  that  perhaps  the  first  flight  of  the 
bird  was  sailing  down,  and  that  it  likely  first  devel- 
oped a  wing  adapted  solely  to  this  sort  of  flight.  But 
when  flight  came  in  perfection,  and  birds  began  to 
depend  upon  it  as  a  means  of  motion  and  escape,  the 
wing  must  be  shaped  for  getting  up  also,  and  getting 
up  quickly,  to  avoid  an  enemy. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  wing 
has  undergone  many  modifications,  being  shortened 
or  lengthened,  widened  or  narrowed,  concaved  or  flat- 
tened (beneath)  and  variously  outlined  to  suit  the 
habits.  Here,  again,  the  task  has  shaped  the  tool. 

We  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  that  all  birds  ex- 
cept penguins  show  evidences  of  having  once  been 
terrestrial,  using  the  leg  so  much  that  the  wing  set 
up  a  tendency  to  degenerate  or  shorten.  This  resulted 
among  some  fossil  forms  in  complete  loss  of  wing  and 
in  various  grades  of  degeneration.  Some  doubtless 
retained  the  use  of  the  wing  to  a  small  extent  in  true 
flight.  Out  of  these  latter  have  likely  come  the  low 
short- winged  birds  which  we  now  find  so  near  the 
ostrich  forms,  as  the  fowls  on  the  dry  land  side  and 

169 


170  THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 

the  rails  on  the  aquatic.  Some  of  these  latter  have 
such  poor  wings  that  it  has  been  believed  by  some 
unthinking  folks  that  they  turn  to  frogs  in  the  fall 
instead  of  migrating — a  theory  on  a  par  with  that 
which  formerly  held  that  swallows  hibernate  in  the 
mud  of  shallow  ponds. 

A  redevelopment  of  the  wing  as  some  of  the  birds 
took  more  to  flight  again  has  probably  given  us,  out 
of  the  region  between  these  two  short- winged  groups, 
such  long-winged  birds  as  some  of  the  plovers,  all 
the  gulls,  petrels,  pelicans,  and  some  others.  The  fast 
hawks,  the  swifts,  etc.,  have  also  shorter  winged  kins- 
folk, out  from  which  they  may  have  come. 

Others,  as  the  divers,  have  remained  short-winged 
because  of  the  small  amount  of  flight  resorted  to,  since 
they  depend  upon  swimming  and  diving  so  largely  as 
a  means  of  escape  and  foraging. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  penguins,  with  finlike 
wings  and  reptilelike  drumstick  (with  both  bones  pres- 
ent), and  their  many  other  very  primitive  peculiarities, 
may  have  been  aquatic  ever  since  their  early  develop- 
ment, and  that  their  ancestors  went  directly  from  flight 
to  water,  never  having,  as  noted,  passed  through  a 
ground -haunting  ancestry.  Some  of  them  are  said 
to  make  no  use  at  all  of  their  feet  in  swimming  ex- 
cept as  rudders,  and  they  strike  first  with  one  wing 
and  then  with  the  other  in  diving — a  very  unflight- 
like  motion,  as  if  they  began  swimming  before  they 
ceased  crawling.  Still,  a  biological  study  of  the  struc- 
ture of  their  wings  hints  of  a  time  of  flight  in  their 
past,  but  that  their  wings  were  never  brought  to  a 


THE  WAY  OF  A  BIRD  IN  THE  AIR. 

state  of  perfection — in  fact,  but  little  beyond  that 
of  the  Archceopteryx.  The  peculiar  pocket  found 
among  some  of  them,  for  hatching  the  egg  in,  hints 
that  they  may  have  diverged  from  the  bird  stem  at 
an  early  period. 

These  suggestions  are  given  to  add  interest  to  our 
study  of  the  shape  of  wings  in  this  chapter,  and  the 
deductions  might  not  be  sustained  if  all  the  facts  were 
presented,  nor  is  it  likely  that  they  will  be  indorsed 
by  all  the  students  of  bird  flight. 

Whatever  the  origin  may  be,  we  find  ground- 
haunting  birds  now  usually  with  wings  that  are  short 
and  round,  so  that  they  may  be  fluttered  rapidly,  and 
that  are  broad  and  concave  beneath,  so  as  to  resist 
the  air  greatly.  The  hollow  side  of  a  curved  disk 
resists  the  air  more  than  if  it  were  flat,  and  very  much 
more  than  the  convex  side. 

Such  birds  as  persist  in  ground-haunting,  skulking 
and  hiding  habits  need  such  wings  for  suddenly  hurl- 
ing themselves  up  when  discovered  or  chased;  and 
short  flight  only  is  desired  that  they  may  again  hide, 
run,  etc.  Hence,  there  is  nothing  in  their  habits  to 
develop  a  better  wing.  In  fact,  there  is  no  better 
wing  for  their  purposes.  But  such  birds  as  wish  to 
sustain  themselves  in  long  continuous  flight  need  a 
wing  that  is  a  little  longer  and  which  does  not  require 
so  much  effort,  at  least  such  rapid  strokes,  to  keep 
the  flyer  up  and  going.  The  longer  the  flight  the 
longer  the  wing  usually.  "We  may  find  all  grades  of 
length  also  according  to  habits. 

In  birds  that  are  given  to  long  continuous  flights 


172  THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 

the  tip  of  the  wing  is  usually  formed  by  the  outer 
feather,  or  else  the  next  one  or  two  are  very  little 
longer  than  the  outer  ;  and  the  wing  is  not  so  broad 
or  concave,  nor  is  it  fluttered  so  rapidly  as  in  the  short 
flyers. 

Usually  such  birds  do  not  suffer  themselves  to  be 
approached,  or  they  are  tree  haunters  or  haunt  other 
safe  places.  Sometimes  birds  combine  ground  habits 
with  very  long  flight,  especially  in  migration,  and  a 
few  long-winged  birds,  as  the  snipes,  may  skulk  and 
hide  and  allow  themselves  to  be  approached ;  but 
when  they  fly  up  they  do  not  rise  so  quickly  upward. 
They  usually  go  swiftly  away  near  the  ground. 

In  fact,  only  a  very  few  light  birds  among  those 
that  are  long-winged  can  fly  quickly  directly  upward. 
They  must  skim  away  in  order  to  get  up.  Some  of 
these,  as  the  albatrosses,  boobies,  etc.,  can  not  rise 
from  a  flat  surface,  but  must  paddle  along  awhile 
with  their  feet  till  they  get  agoing.  This  is  also  the 
case  with  some  rather  short  yet  pointed  winged  water 
birds,  as  loons,  some  ducks,  etc.,  which  can  be  watch- 
ful and  have  no  need  to  rise  directly  upward. 

But  many  of  the  grouse  forms  can  hurl  themselves 
directly  from  the  earth  into  the  air  with  tremendous 
velocity,  especially  when  their  muscles  are  fresh  ;  for 
they  are  not  only  endowed  with  a  special  wing,  but 
with  rather  unusually  large  chest  muscles,  which  are 
capable  of  great  exertion  for  a  short  while  only. 

A  great  compensation  for  deficiencies  in  various 
wings  is  found  in  both  the  quantity  (bulk)  and  quality 
of  these  chest  muscles.  In  some  plovers,  with  such 


THE  WAY  OP  A  BIRD  IN  THE  AIR.          173 

long  perfect  wings,  these  muscles  are  scant,  in  keeping 
with  the  light  body  and  long  slow  stroke ;  but  in  ducks, 
where  the  wing  is  shorter  yet  shaped  for  long  jour- 
neys, these  muscles  are  ample  and  the  stroke  is  very 
rapid ;  and  in  both  these  and  plovers  the  tissues  are 
tough  and  almost  tireless  in  their  action.  This  quality 
of  the  tissue  often  shows  in  the  color  of  the  flesh. 
Short-range  flyers  are  often  "  white-meated  " — a  poor 
characteristic  for  long  continuous  use,  but  specially 
adapted  to  the  gridiron  and  platter.  The  best  flight 
muscles  are  usually  black.  Ducks  have  both  quantity 
and  quality,  and  with  an  elegantly  shaped  but  short 
wing  they  make  rapid  and  long  flights  by  working 
their  passage  very  industriously. 


Wing  of  solitary  sandpiper,  a  typical  wing  for  continuous  flight,  with 
the  elongated  tertiaries  of  a  ground  haunter. 

Again,  there  is  a  kind  of  wing  that  is  adapted  to 
the  highest  and  latest  style  of  flight,  the  capacity  of 
sailing  when  once  well  up  either  with  or  against  the 
wind,  or  of  even  getting  up  higher,  without  any  flap- 
ping whatever.  There  doubtless  comes  in  here  also 
something  else  besides  the  shape  of  the  wing ;  for 
while  the  albatross  and  others  are  most  expert  at  sail- 
ing and  gyrating  with  an  almost  perfect  wing,  which 
is  light  and  hollow-boned,  carrying  a  proportionately 


174  TITE  STORY -OF   THE  BIRDS. 

light  body,  certain  rather  heavy  vultures  float  for 
great  periods  in  the  air  with  a  much  shorter,  broader, 
and  more  rounded  wing.  Just  how  the  thing  is  done 
is  by  no  means  settled,  but  to  some  extent  it  must  be 
a  matter  of  skill  on  the  part  of  the  flyer.  It  is  not 
probable,  however,  that  any  sort  of  wing  could  do  it. 

While  albatrosses  and  others  appear  so  to  float 
continuously  in  calms,  it  is  fairly  certain  that  this  sort 
of  flight  is  connected  with  strong  horizontal  currents 
by  nice  adjustment  of  wing,  tail,  neck,  etc.  It  has 
been  asserted  that  upward  currents  are  always  pre- 
vailing also,  but  this  is  not  proved  yet. 

Various  theories  have  been  (and  are  being)  ad- 
vanced, but  none  of  them  yet  account  for  all  the 
facts,  and  many  are  based  upon  assumptions  not  yet 
established.  In  this  outlook  lies  our  human  hopes  of 
flying,  and  upon  it  some  most  abstruse  physics  are 
brought  to  bear,  too  technical  for  our  discussion. 

But  we  may  glance  a  few  minutes  at  how  a  bird 
progresses  by  flapping.  As  the  quills  all  lap  under 
each  other  with  their  longer  vanes  backward,  the  wing 
is  nearly  air-tight  as  the  down  stroke  is  made,  and  it 
becomes  loose,  like  the  slats  of  a  window  blind,  on 
the  upstroke.  We  can  see,  therefore,  how  flapping 
lifts.  Likewise,  the  downstroke  is  more  rapid  or  at 
least  more  forcible  than  the  upstroke,  and  the  air  is 
much  more  resisting  to  a  rapid  stroke  than  to  a  slow 
one.  Again,  the  difference  in  the  shape  of  the  lower 
and  upper  side  of  the  wing  is  helpful,  as  noted. 

Now,  since  the  feathers  have  either  their  tips  or 
their  wider  vanes  backward,  as  the  wing  is  extended, 


THE   WAY  OF  A  BIRD   IN  THE   AIR.          175 

these  both  tend  on  the  downstroke  to  bend  upward, 
and  as  the  air  resists  them  on  the  downstroke  it 
glides  out  behind  the  wing  and  tends,  like  the  blades 
of  a  propeller,  to  push  the  bird  forward.  This  alone 
would  be  enough  for  slow  motion,  but  after  a  bird  is 
well  up  the  wings  reach  forward  and  strike  backward 
as  they  go  down. 

It  is  well  established  that  a  flying  bird  needs  noth- 
ing but  propulsion  after  getting  a  start,  since  the  un- 
der surface  of  both  wings,  the  body  and  the  tail,  by 
being  slightly  tilted  up  front,  tend  to  lift  the  bird  as 
it  goes  forward,  just  as  a  kite  rises  when  drawn  rap- 
idly by  a  string.  In  this  case,  as  in  many  others, 
rising  or  keeping  up  means  going.  But  a  bird  may 
so  adjust  itself  as  not  to  go  when  it  flutters,  as  seen  in 
hawks,  shrikes,  bluebirds,  etc. 

There  are  many  other  features  of  a  bird's  wing, 
such  as  are  shown  by  the  length,  number,  arrangement 
and  special  shape  of  the  individual  flight  quills,  and  the 


Wing  of  broad-winged  hawk,  with  notched  primaries — another  way  of 
narrowing  the  tip  of  a  wide  wing  to  fit  it  for  soaring. 

probable  causes  that  have  brought  about  their  short- 
ening or  suppression,  their  narrowing,  tapering  off, 
etc.,  but  our  discussion  can  not  include  them. 

There  are  also  some  correlations,  not  well  under- 
stood, between  the  number  of  primaries  (quills  in  the 


176  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

hand  or  tip  joint  of  the  wing)  and  the  scaly  condition 
of  the  shank  and  the  number  and  arrangement  of  the 
song  muscles.  Higher  birds  have  also  fewer  seconda- 
ries (quills  growing  out  of  the  middle  joint  of  the 
wing)  than  the  lower  birds,  and  many  birds  with 
sharp-pointed  long  wings,  which  feed  on  the  ground 
much,  have  the  feathers  which  grow  out  of  the  upper 
joint  of  the  wing  (tertiaries)  next  the  body  very  long, 
as  if  they  were  in  some  way  intended  as  an  arrange- 
ment for  rapid  rising,  which  Nature  was  trying  to  put 
in  without  shortening,  broadening  or  concaving  the 
wing. 

One  can  look  at  a  bird's  wing  and  know  much  of 
its  way  through  the  air,  and  draw  some  strong  infer- 
ences about  its  story. 


CHAPTEE   XXVII. 

HOW    AND    WHY    DO    BIRDS    TRAVEL  ? 

WHILE  birds  appear  so  free  and  roving,  they  usu- 
ally have  rather  definite  homes  or  home  regions,  re- 
maining in  these  their  entire  lives  if  not  forced  away ; 
and  many  use  the  same  tree  or  other  location  from 
year  to  year  to  nest  in.  It  is  certain  that  where  a 
bird  rears  its  young  is  its  home,  and  this  is  surely  th* 
home  and  native  place  of  the  nestling. 

But  stress  of  cold  and  scarcity  of  food  may,  and 
often  does  cause  the  birds  to  travel,  and  they  take 
their  well-known  journeys  southward  at  the  approach 
of  the  winter.  Such  as  live  on  flying  insects  are  com- 
pelled to  go. 

But  all  the  birds  do  not  travel.  Some  stay  in  the 
same  region  the  year  around,  enduring  the  cold  and 
picking  up  a  living  in  spite  of  the  departure  of  the 
insect  and  the  berry.  Why,  then,  do  others  leave  us  ? 
It  would  seem  that  they,  too,  might  learn  the  art  of 
living  in  and  enduring  the  severities  of  the  winter, 
and  save  themselves  the  great  labor  and  danger  of  a 
long  journey  which  is  so  often  fatal  to  many. 

It  is  one  of  the  theories  of  the  migration  of  birds 
north  of  the  equator  that  many  of  them  originated 

177 


178  THE  STORY   OF  THE   BIRDS. 

around  the  north  pole,  on  all  the  continents  near  .it, 
at  a  time  when  this  region  was  tropical  in  climate,  as 
it  evidently  once  was,  judging  from  its  fossils ;  and 
that  as  the  great  ice-cap  formed  over  it  and  covered 
the  earth,  gradually  extending  away  southward,  per- 
haps to  the  Ohio  Valley  on  our  continent,  it  drove  be- 
fore it  many  of  the  birds,  fleeing  for  their  safety. 
There  was  no  opportunity  to  temper  themselves  to 
the  climate,  no  chance  whatever  to  live  upon  the  bare 
ice  only.  But  when  summer  came  each  year  the  great 
ice  wave  would  recede  a  little,  and  the  birds  would 
follow  it  back  and  build  their  nests  as  near  as  possible 
to  the  old  home  location,  placing  them  often,  no  doubt, 
under  the  very  brow  of  the  glacier.  In  time  the  ice 
receded  to  its  present  limit,  and  the  habit  once  set  up 
has  caused  many  birds  to  follow  it  yet.  Others  have 
set  the  limit  farther  south,  with  all  degrees  of  gra- 
dation, for  the  old  tropical  climate  never  came  again 
to  the  arctics. 

If  this  view  be  correct  it  will  be  readily  seen  that 
the  habit  of  migration  thus  set  up  and  continued 
would  prevent  the  traveling  birds  from  becoming 
hardened  to  winter  or  adapting  themselves  to  a  win- 
ter diet,  because  the  first  cool  blast,  or  even  the  dim- 
ming and  lowering  toward  the  south  of  the  autumn 
sun,  would  send  them  south,  doubtless,  with  the  in- 
herited impression  that  the  great  ice  billow  was  creep- 
ing down  yet  only  a  short  distance  north  of  them  ; 
just  as  the  little  kitten  while  yet  blind  hisses  at  the 
odor  of  the  friendly  dog,  because  his  tribe  has  so  long 
been  the  enemy  of  its  ancestry. 


15 


A  byway  of  the  birds. 


HOW  AND   WHY    DO   BIRDS  TRAVEL?         179 

But  experience  has,  nevertheless,  crept  into  some 
of  the  birds,  and  many  that  doubtless  formerly  went 
south  with  their  tribe  now  remain  and  endure  our 
winters.  Others  that  could  well  stay  still  go  yet, 
while  with  some  others  still  the  old  tendency  seems 
stronger  at  some  seasons  than  others,  and  they  may 
go  or  they  may  stay,  according  to  some  fancy  that  is 
not  often  apparent.  Thus  all  the  nickers  or  redheads 
may  leave  a  certain  region  one  winter,  though  it  be 
milder  than  the  one  previous,  when  they  stayed  ;  and 
it  is  certain  (in  some  regions  at  least)  that  robins,  blue- 
birds, and.  others  remain  all  the  year  around  (or  tend 
to  remain)  much  more  frequently  than  formerly  when 
they  find  a  friendly  haunt. 

There  is  another  element  in  migration  that  is  in 
direct  opposition  apparently  to  that  just  noticed. 
Birds  of  evident  southern  origin,  having  most  of 
their  species  resident  south,  as  humming  birds,  tana- 
gers,  etc.,  and  showing  by  their  nest,  as  noted  (Chap- 
ter XVII),  their  hot-weather  habits,  also  come  north 
to  rear  their  young,  whence  they  have  never  been 
driven  by  an  ice-cap.  We  can  readily  see  why  all 
birds  should  flee  at  the  hint  of  cold  weather,  but  why 
should  these  (as  it  grows  warmer)  make  the  northern 
trip  ?  If  they  were  ever  of  northern  origin  when  the 
arctics  were  tropical,  it  seems  probable  that  for  a  long 
time  their  ancestors  have  resided  permanently  in  the 
south,  and  their  northward  tendencies  seem  quite  re- 
cent. Only  a  few  of  them  have  acquired  the  habit. 

Here,  however,  may  come  in  a  factor  in  nest 
building  which  also  influences  the  northern  bird  as 


180  THE   STORY    OF   THE   BIRDS. 

well  as  the  southern.  All  birds  except  the  most 
social  seem  to  like  to  get  apart  from  others  in  nest- 
ing, and  even  in  the  social  kinds  one  colony  usually 
pre-empts  all  of  a  certain  region.  The  tendency  to 
conceal  the  nest  is  very  strong  in  many  birds,  and 
such  as  turkeys,  guineas,  etc.,  of  our  domestic  birds 
even  steal  away  at  this  season.  Here,  then,  from  a 
crowded  condition  might  be  set  up  a  movement  from 
any  center  in  any  direction,  and  the  northward  spring 
migration  of  southern  birds  may  be  only  an  inci- 
dental portion  of  this  motion.  Doubtless  much  of 
the  distribution  of  birds — a  topic  our  little  book  will 
have  to  omit — depends  upon  this  tendency  and  the 
seeking  of  new  food  fields.  This  latter  may  also  be 
one  element  of  this  form  of  migration. 

Having  once  come  up  north  and  made  their  homes 
(nests)  here,  the  tendency  of  the  young  bird  is  to  re- 
main in  his  native  region,  and  to  be  driven  south  only 
by  stress  of  weather  and  famine.  But  if  food  be  pres- 
ent we  find  many  of  these  southern  birds  learning  to 
endure  northern  winters,  such  as  doves,  mockers,  car- 
dinals, flickers,  etc. 

But  the  question  that  most  concerns  us  is  how  the 
bird  travels.  Flight  of  course  is  the  usual  means, 
though  a  few,  such  as  quails,  turkeys,  etc.,  move  south- 
ward afoot  often.  But  flight  makes  extensive  migra- 
tion possible.  It  is  said  that  some  plovers  that  nest 
in  Labrador  winter  in  Patagonia,  their  long  wings 
easily  carrying  them  this  great  distance.  But  even 
short-winged  birds  make  long  flights  at  this  season. 
There  are  doubtless  some  long  migrations  made  in  a 


HOW   AND   WHY   DO   BIRDS  TRAVEL !         181 

single  continuous  flight,  while  others  consist  of  a  sort 
of  straggling  from  place  to  place  with  stops  for  food, 
water,  or  rest.  The  migration  of  the  same  birds  may 
differ  in  this  respect  at  different  seasons  or  different 
stages  of  the  journey.  Or  different  flocks  or  individ- 
uals may  differ  much  from  others  in  their  migrating 
habits  for  the  time. 

Where  the  flights  are  long  and  continuous  it  fre- 
quently happens  that  birds  go  in  great  flocks  or 
streams,  some  that  are  solitary  at  other  times  being 
very  social  now. 

Such  flights  are  apt  to  be  at  great  altitudes,  so  far 
as  to  be  usually  out  of  sight.  Star  gazers  have  seen 
them  pass  their  telescopes  in  the  night  (for  these 
long  flights  extend  over  nights,  especially  if  the 
moon  shines),  and  they  are  able  to  estimate  by  the 
sharpness  of  the  focus  how  high  these  bird  nebulae 
are.  Two,  three,  and  even  more  miles  have  been  as- 
serted. An  observer  on  a  certain  island  where  birds 
rest  speaks  also  of  single  birds  coming  down  from  the 
unseen  heights  and  alighting. 

Often  after  approaching  land  and  nearing  the  end 
of  the  journey,  our  little  birds  stop  short  of  home  and 
drift  up,  singing  and  feeding.  Thus  we  may  note  the 
loitering  of  the  Peabody  sparrow,  purple  finch,  and 
various  thrushes,  etc.  The  Baltimore  oriole  rides  up 
on  the  great  spring  wave  of  the  opening  leaf  and  ex- 
panding catkin,  and  the  warblers,  vireos,  etc.,  wait  till 
the  full  flush  of  summer  is  here,  and  beat  northward 
part  of  the  way  through  tree  top  and  tangle  to  the 
music  of  the  insect's  gauzy  wings. 


182  THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 

While  over  water  or  great  stretches  of  land  where 
they  do  not  care  to  alight  the  route  of  birds  may  be 
rather  direct  between  points  far  apart,  unless,  as  is 
often  the  case,  they  are  deflected  by  winds ;  but 
where  there  are  coast  lines  tending  in  the  right  direc- 
tion they  are  apt  to  be  roughly  followed,  and  inland 
great  streams  and  wooded  borders  are  followed.  This 
last  is  likely  because  of  the  opportunities  of  rest,  food, 
and  shelter  or  proper  haunt  that  they  may  offer.  Even 
at  sea  birds  are  apt  to  lay  their  journeys  by  islands, 
and  these  islands  will  lie  for  ages  in  their  routes.  Or- 
dinary land  birds  are  recorded  as  resting  sometimes 
by  simply  floating  for  a  while  upon  the  water  in  mid- 
ocean. 

The  island  of  Heligoland,  in  the  North  Sea  (or 
German  Ocean),  has  for  generations  been  the  resting 
place  for  migrants  to  and  from  northern  Europe.  It 
is  said  that  the  bird  routes  now  over  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea  are  over  shallow  places  that  were  once  isth- 
muses. Bird  routes  even  through  the  air  are  apt  to 
be  very  permanent  when  once  established,  and  these 
over  the  Mediterranean  were  probably  set  up  by  fol- 
lowing the  land  beneath  when  it  was  visible,  and  are 
followed  now  by  the  heritance  of  habit.  Columbus 
was  influenced  in  his  voyage  by  following  one  of  these 
bird  "  aerial  lanes,"  and  was  led  on  to  the  West  Indies 
instead  of  Florida.  These  bird  flights  are  said  to  be 
there  to-day  at  the  same  season  of  the  year. 

But  by  far  the  most  interesting  question  about  the 
migration  of  birds  is,  What  guides  them  ?  There  is 
quite  a  tendency  among  modern  students  to  assert 


HOW   AND   WHY   DO   BIRDS  TRAVEL?         183 

that  the  bird  is  guided  by  the  topography  of  the  land, 
the  stars,  the  waves,  etc.,  attributing  the  direction 
taken  solely  to  the  reasoning  powers  of  the  bird,  just 
as  it  knows  how  to  flee  when  you  approach  it.  But 
there  are  some  statements  concerning  certain  practices 
in  migration  that  are  much  in  the  way  of  this  view. 
It  has  been  maintained  that  the  old  birds  guide  the 
young,  but  observers  upon  this  island  of  Heligoland 
and  other  places  often  find  the  young  birds  preceding 
the  old  ones.  Again  the  old  ones  in  other  instances 
precede  the  young  so  far  as  to  be  in  no  sense  a 
guide.  Thus  the  European  cuckoo  is  said  to  be  out 
of  England  and  into  Africa,  while  its  fledgeling  is 
yet  being  fed  by  some  duped  finch  or  warbler  at  the 
north.  % 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  birds  reason 
about  their  course,  as  we  have  seen,  turning  aside  to 
feeding  grounds  and  laying  their  courses  by  or  along- 
side of  great  landmarks.  It  is  claimed  also  that  hom- 
ing pigeons  are  guided  wholly  by  the  "lay  of  the 
land,"  etc.,  in  taking  up  their  direction,  since  they 
often  circle  for  a  while. 

But  with  all  this  the  knack  of  returning  quickly, 
often  in  a  direct  line,  to  the  old  home  so  frequently 
displayed  by  lower  animals  when  carried  away  in 
sacks  by  circuitous  paths  is  in  all  probability  instinc- 
tive or  intuitive. 

So  the  capacity  of  the  young  bird  for  starting  in 
the  proper  direction  is  no  more  remarkable  than  the 
fact  that  without  instruction  it  should  desire  to  go. 
Both  may  be  an  inherited  habit,  or,  if  you  choose,  an 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

instinct.  Birds,  however,  often  lose  their  routes  and 
grow  confused  in  fogs,  darkness,  storms,  etc.  Their 
instinct  of  direction  is  not  unerring.  They  are  cer- 
tainly within  limits  reasoning  creatures,  and  a  yield- 
ing to  the  influences  of  reason  may  sometimes  confuse 
instinct  as  well  as  aid  it.  We  can  not  here  enter  into 
any  discussion  of  instinct.  It  is  not  impossible,  how- 
ever, for  its  pure  manifestations  to  be  more  nearly 
unerring  than  we  think.  But  it  is  an  inheritance 
from  the  past  out  of  which  all  present  experience 
and  intelligence  tend  to  lead,  and  the  Great  Beyond 
of  all  creatures  lies  above  it.  If  we  could  separate  it, 
we  might  find  it  perfect  for  its  purposes  and  unerring 
when  its  promptings  only  were  obeyed.  Especially 
would  this  be  true  if  the  same  conditions  and  envi- 
ronment could  prevail  now  which  were  present  when 
the  instinct  was  evolved.  In  so  many  cases>  however, 
as  we  shall  see  in  Chapter  XXIX,  the  conditions  have 
outgrown  the  instinct  or  fixed  habit ;  and  the  bird 
stands  tied  to  the  past  with  the  emergencies  of  the 
present  pressing  upon  it. 

There  are  some  other  peculiarities  concerning  daily 
bird  routes — hunter's  "  crossings,"  so  called — whereby 
upon  a  certain  day  all  wild  geese  will  enter  a  field  at 
or  near  a  certain  point,  though  one  flock  can  not  see 
the  other  ahead  of  it,  and  certain  deflections  in  the 
"  fly  lines  "  of  plovers,  etc.,  which  show  that  birds  are 
peculiarly  endowed  with  some  sense  of  direction  not 
yet  understood.  But  no  dissection  hints  of  any  special 
organ  originating  it. 

After  fifty  years  of  study  of  the  migration  of  birds 


HOW  AND  WHY  DO   BIRDS  TRAVEL?         185 

upon  the  island  of  Heligoland,  Herr  Gatke  declares 
that  we  are  no  nearer  than  ever  to  the  solution  of  the 
problem,  as  to  what  guides  the  bird.  The  study,  how- 
ever, of  how  and  why  a  bird  travels  may  show  us  many 
features  of  the  story. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

WHAT    A    BIRD    KNOWS    ABOUT    GEOGRAPHY    AND 
ARITHMETIC. 

THAT  a  bird  has  received  its  ideas  of  geography 
from  its  ancestors  there  can  be  but  little  doubt.  If 
some  progenitor  had  not  once  gone  south,  or  set  up 
the  habit  of  going  south,  no  nestling  now  would  yearn 
for  the  sunny  land  as  the  winter  approaches.  But 
just  how  it  holds  through  the  ages,  this  experience  of 
its  forefathers,  we  only  can  say  in  our  ignorance  that 
the  capacity  for  this  is  a  special  endowment  of  low 
creatures  that  man  does  not  possess.  If  instinct  be 
not  an  inspiration,  the  faculties  out  of  which  it  is 
evolved  are  as  remarkable  as  the  thing  itself. 

But  we  can  sometimes  see  where  a  knowledge  of 
geography  in  the  feathered  learners  is  a  matter  purely 
of  experience,  the  proper  direction  or  "  short  cut " 
being  not  instinctively  perceived.  Thus  it  is  stated 
that  such  bobolinks  as  have  gone  West  and  are  build- 
ing beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  have  not  yet  learned 
how  to  take  a  short  cut  south  to  their  winter  homes 
by  passing  west  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  must  re- 
turn (as  they  worked  their  way  out)  to  the  Atlantic 
slope,  and  go  south  as  their  tribe  has  done  for  ages. 

186 


A   BIRD'S   GEOGRAPHY  'AND  ARITHMETIC.    187 

Geologists  hint  tliat  in  the  long  ago  the  Gulf  waters 
extended  north  till  they  met  those  of  Hudson  Bay, 
and  that  our  plains  were  once  the  bottom  of  a  shallow 
ocean  whose  beaches  were  the  highlands  of  the  Appa- 
lachian and  Kocky  Mountain  regions  respectively. 

There  is  much  in  the  distribution  and  migration 
of  our  birds  to  confirm  this.  At  any  rate,  there  are 
on  our  continent  two  great  divisions  of  migrant  birds, 
those  from  the  east  going  south,  usually  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Gulf,  and  passing  on  mostly  by  the  West 
Indies,  and  those  from  the  west  going  southwest  of 
the  Gulf  and  passing  on  by  the  Isthmus. 

Except  in  a  few  instances,  which,  like  those  of  the 
bobolink,  are  comparatively  recent,  our  great  plains 
west  of  Missouri  have  been  almost  as  complete  a  bar- 
rier to  the  mixture  of  the  birds  of  the  two  regions  as 
the  original  waste  of  waters  was. 

Now  these  two  masses  of  bird  life  show  consider- 
able resemblance  to  each  other,  but  frequently  differ 
in  genera  and  species.  Often,  however,  only  the 
slightest  variations  in  coloration  are  evident  between 
Eastern  and  Western  species.  In  some  instances  (as 
the  flickers,  meadow  larks,  etc.)  it  is  evident  that  they 
have  intergraded  across  the  plains,  but  in  others  the 
line  of  kinship  more  likely  runs  around  by  South 
America  or  by  the  arctic  landed  regions,  where  the 
intergradations  were  made.  In  a  few  cases,  some 
Western  birds  show  their  kinship  from  Asia,  by  the 
way  of  the  Aleutian  Isles  say,  and  some  Eastern  birds 
have  a  cousinly  line  running  across  to  Europe  via 
Iceland. 


188 


THE   STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 


While  a  bird  knows  geography  only  in  the  line  of 
its  needs  or  its  forefathers'  uses,  it  may  tell  us  a  great 
deal  of  a  condition  of  the  earth  that  no  human  eye 
has  ever  seen.  Taking  the  world  over,  we  can  look 
back  through  the  bird's  inherited  knowledge  and  get 
glimpses  of  ancient  geography  away  beyond  our  old- 
est records.  The  entire  subject  of  the  distribution  of 
birds  and  other  animals  is  full  of  such  suggestions. 

In  connection  with  what  a  bird  knows  we  may 
mention  its  knowledge  of  numbers.  All  creatures 

appear  to  distinguish 
between  many  and 
few,  and  all  know 
the  value  or  force 
of  great  numbers. 
Wolves  become 
fierce  when  the  pack 
is  large,  and  jays, 
crows,  and  others  are 
valiant  in  their  attack 
on  owl  and  eagle  after 
they  have  called  up  a  crowd. 
But  it  seems  that  within 
a  small  limit  birds  have  a  correct, 
or  nearly  correct,  estimate  of  the 
number  of  objects  present.  This 
is  especially  noticeable  in  the  behavior  of  some  birds 
with  regard  to  the  proper  number  of  eggs  that  should 
be  in  the  nest  before  they  begin  to  incubate,  or 
rather  before  they  stop  laying.  Many  birds  do  not 
have  a  definite  number  in  their  clutch,  but  all  have 


A  crow. 


A   BIRD'S  GEOGRAPHY  AND  ARITHMETIC.    189 

a  limit  which  they  rarely  exceed  or  fall  very  far 
short  of. 

Others  are  much  more  definite.  Thus,  as  noted 
among  some  plovers,  three  or  four  eggs  are  very 
regularly  the  rule.  With  a  few  it  is  definitely  three. 
We  have  seen  already  that  a  bird  can  lay  more  eggs 
than  she  usually  deposits,  having  a  reserve,  it  seems, 
for  emergencies,  such  as  robbery,  etc.  She  soon  fills 
another  nest  if  one  is  broken  up. 

If  also,  in  many  birds,  as  they  are  laying,  an  egg 
be  taken  daily,  the  mother  will  continue  to  replace  it, 
to  the  limit  of  her  egg-laying  capacity,  so  long  as  she 
perceives  the  number  too  small ;  and  one  may,  in  this 
way,  just  at  this  time  get  an  egg  or  eggs  for  study 
without  destroying  the  bird's  prospects.  Now  this 
argues  that  the  bird  can  count  up  to  her  needs  in  this 
respect. 

It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  she  has  a  "  one-two- 
three,"  etc.,  sort  of  appreciation  of  the  numbers  as  she 
goes  along.  It  may  be  just  an  estimate  in  the  lump 
of  when  the  nest  is  properly  filled. 

As  noted,  the  cowbirds  are  well  known  to  be  para- 
sitic upon  other  birds  in  laying  their  eggs.  Meadow- 
larks'  nests  have  been  found  with  their  proper  number 
of  eggs  deposited,  but  with  one  or  more  thrown  out 
and  a  cowbird's  egg  or  eggs  in  their  place.  It  appears 
as  if  the  parasitic  mother  felt  that  there  were  too  many 
in  the  nest  for  hers  to  have  the  proper  chance  in  incu- 
bation. 

It  would  be  straining  our  theory  too  far  to  sup- 
pose that  she  instinctively  knew  what  was  the  proper 


190  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

number  for  various  species  to  cover  and  hatch  surely, 
and  that  she  deposited  her  own  or  threw  out  the 
other's  eggs  accordingly.  But  that  she  has  some 
ideas  of  her  own  may  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing 
case,  and  from  the  fact  that  where  there  are  already 
many  eggs  in  the  nest  the  cowbird  deposits  only  one 

or  few.  But  if  she  gets 
to  a  nest  early  she  may 
lay  many  in  it,  as  seen 
in  the  following  cases  of 
record  : 

A  vireo,  while  build- 
ing, had  deposited  in  her 

Red-eyed  vireo.     (Natural  size.)         nest  a  Sufficient   number 

of  cowbird  eggs  to  come 

within  one  of  her  usual  complement.  She  deposited 
only  the  one  egg  needed,  and  immediately  began  to 
incubate.  Another  vireo  was  found  where  her  clutch 
was  completely  filled  by  the  time  her  nest  was  finished, 
and  she  went  to  sitting  without  laying  any  eggs  at  all. 

Here  the  vireo  certainly  knew  her  nest  number, 
and  it  may  be  just  possible  that  the  cowbird  did  also, 
though  this  is  not  very  probable. 

It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  the  sight  of  a  proper 
number  of  eggs  in  her  nest  should  so  affect  the  bird's 
physiology  as  to  render  her  able  at  once  to  cease  lay- 
ing. Dissection  often  shows  many  small  eggs  yet  un- 
formed. Laying  does  not  always,  however,  appear  to 
be  a  matter  wholly  voluntary,  for  it  is  well  known  that 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nesting  season  a  bird  may  have 
to  deposit  an  egg  anywhere  before  she  can  build  ;  or 


A  BIRD'S  GEOGRAPHY   AND  ARITHMETIC.    191 

even  some  may  lay  while  yet  on  their  way  north  long 
before  they  reach  the  nesting  region. 

It  can  not  be  the  mere  act  of  incubating  that  sus- 
pends egg  laying,  for  many  birds  begin  to  sit  so  soon 
as  a  single  egg  is  laid,  where  from  four  to  eight  are  laid 
afterward.  We  have  seen,  however,  that  incubation 
does  affect  the  circulation,  even  of  the  males,  making 
the  crop  of  the  male  pigeon  secrete  and  scale  up  a 
peculiar  curdlike  substance. 

Outside  influences,  such  as  fright,  sudden  cold,  or 
bad  weather  generally,  may  affect  a  bird  so  as  to  cause 
it  to  cease  laying,  as  may  be  observed  in  any  barnyard. 

It  seems  a  little  remarkable  that  a  bird  having  so 
much  mathematical  perception  should  not  be  better 
able  to  know  its  own  egg  as  well  as  its  number.  But 
many  seem  to  be  unable  to  see  that  they  are  duped  or 
else  are  wholly  indifferent  to  the  fraud.  There  is  the 
well-known  instance,  however,  of  the  summer  yellow- 
bird's  building  another  floor  above  the  false  egg,  thus 
showing  her  knowledge,  but  she  has  been  more  fre- 
quently observed  feeding  the  squabby  cowbird's  nes- 
tling than  rejecting  its  egg.  There  are  times,  how- 
ever, when  the  cowbird's  egg  is  found  pierced  or 
thrown  out  of  the  nest  by  various  birds.  But  this  is 
off  of  our  topic. 

There  are  some  facts  recorded  that  show  that, 
besides  the  very  prompt  return,  almost  to  the  day,  of 
some  migrants,  birds  have  an  accurate  estimate  of  how 
many  days  lapse  between  certain  events  that  recur 
regularly.  Do  they  count,  or  just  "  feel  it  in  their 

bones " ? 

16 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 

PROFIT    AND    LOSS    IN    THE    BIRDS. 

WE  have  seen  that  birds  in  growing  to  be  birds 
have  lost  much ;  in  growing  to  be  better  birds  they 
have  lost  more.  "With  them,  as  elsewhere,  loss  often 
has  its  compensations,  and  has  been  the  means  of 
gain. 

They  have  mounted  higher,  in  some*  instances,  on 
part  of  "their  dead  selves"  at  least.  Let  us  look 
back  a  little : 

They  flew  first  by  the  loss  of  a  pair  of  legs,  or  the 
use  of  their  fore  limbs  as  such,  and  they  flew  better 
by  losing  some  fingers,  perhaps,  and  at  least  the  sep- 
arate use  of  all ;  better  still,  by  the  loss  of  tail,  or  its 
great  length  at  least. 

After  they  became  runners  and  used  their  wings 
less,  such  of  them  as  depended  on  escape  afoot  lost 
most  of  the  fibula,  or  the  smaller  of  the  leg  bones, 
that  they  might  run  better.  Likewise,  later  they  lost 
some  muscles  that  were  necessary  in  running,  swim- 
ming, or  moving  the  tail  even  ;  and  they  had  various 
adhesions  of  the  tendons  in  keeping  with  their  wants. 

They  took  on  certain  organs  as  they  had  need, 
and  lost  these  new  ones  as  readily  when  they  became 

193 


PROFIT    AND   LOSS   IN   THE   BIRDS. 


193 


useless  by  change  of  habit.  But  some v  of  them  per- 
sist yet  as  vestiges  of  past  conditions.  When  birds 
took  to  water  they  developed  webs  between  the  toes, 
and  their  toe  tendons  split  up  and  spread  out  to  each 
digit,  in  keeping  with  very  complicated  needs.  Ves- 
tiges of  these  persist  (in  the  fowls,  birds  of  prey, 
and  others)  with  peculiar  arrangements  of  tendons  to 
pull  the  outer  toes  in  under  the  middle,  as  if  to  offer 
little  resistance  to  the  water  on  the  forward  swimming 
stroke.  Many  of  the  lower  birds  that  are  not  swim- 
mers retain  a  muscle  whose  sole  use  was  to  close  the 
front  toes  automatically  when  the  leg  is  bent. 


Head  of  gannet  (1)  and  cormorant  (2)  showing  abortive  nostrils. 

Some  of  the  diving  birds  have  lost  their  nostrils, 
and  others  which  gulp  their  food,  judging  of  its  fit- 
ness by  sight  only,  have  lost  their  tongues.  An  un- 
used organ  always  tends  to  go,  at  least  till  it  gets  out 
of  the  way.  Internally  also  have  come  about  great 
changes  and  losses. 


194:  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

Cceca,  a  part  of  the  digestive  tract,  seems  once  to 
have  been  necessary  in  all  birds  to  the  digestion  of 
such  food  as  they  then  used.  Now  they  are  very 
variable,  and  some  birds  are  entirely  destitute  of 
them,  or  such  vestiges  of  them  as  remain  are  useless. 
Likewise  gizzards  have  been  developed  and  lost,  or 
become  loose,  thin  sacs  rather ;  and  other  internal 
organs  have  been  changed.  The  very  loops  and  ar- 
rangements of  viscera  hint  much  of  the  route  of 
development. 

A  very  peculiar  loss  among  some  birds  is  that  of 
one  carotid  artery.  Usually  it  is  the  right  that  is 
gone,  or  the  two  may  be  merged  into  one.  This 
change  may  have  come  about  in  keeping  with  the  de- 
mand or  needs  of  the  brain's  blood  supply.  Perhaps 
when  the  bird  became  hot-blooded  with  a  very  active 
heart,  the  brain  received  too  much  blood  in  the  in- 
tense exercise  of  flying.  In  mammals  this  blood  sup- 
ply is  sometimes  regulated  by  crooking  the  artery. 
This  suppression  of  the  carotids  is  very  variable  in 
different  groups  or  different  members  of  the  same 
group.  It  seems  to  be  something  easily  and  recently 
influenced. 

In  losing  the  skin  pores,  birds,  as  we  have  seen, 
found  some  compensation  in  the  development  of  the 
oil  gland,  but  some  of  them  have  even  lost  that. 

We  have  already  seen  how  parts  of  feathers  have 
been  lost  for  beauty. 

In  some  way  not  well  understood,  except  that  it 
may  imply  progress  away  from  the  reptiles,  the 
higher  and  more  songful  birds  have  lost  many  scales 


PROFIT  AND   LOSS   IN   THE   BIRDS. 


195 


upon  their  legs,  or  rather  the  scales  have  all  merged 
into  one  sheath.  The  shanks  of  the  melodious  thrushes 
are,  for  part  of  the  way,  entirely  scaleless  (see  cut, 
page  161).  We  can  not  see  how  this  can  in  any  way 
be  a  compensation  ;  so  that  the  best  we  can  do  is  to 
cloak  our  ignorance  by 
calling  it  a  correlation. 
Since  the  bird  left  the 
reptilian  state  by  losing 
scales  partly,  this  may  be 
regarded  by  some  as 
merely  the  result  of  a 
scale-losing  momentum  ; 
but  why  it  should  be  co- 
ordinated with,  or  ac- 
companied by  more  than 
three  pairs  of  song  mus- 
cles we  can  not  say,  un- 
less the  acquisition  of 
song  muscles  is  also  the 
highest  development 
away  from  the  lizards. 
The  loss  of  one  or  two 
primary  wing  quills  seems 
to  run  quite  unexplain- 
ably  almost  parallel  with  these  last  two  changes  also. 
Lastly,  besides  the  loss  of  teeth,  there  have  been 
great  changes  in  the  skull,  in  keeping  with  progress 
or  degeneration,  especially  in  the  bones  of  the  palate 
or  skull  floor.  These  seem  to  be  related  to  the  bird's 
brain,  or  its  intelligence,  and  to  its  habits.  They  are 


Melodious  thrushes. 


196  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

too  technical  even  to  mention  here.  The  relations 
between  them  remain  more  nearly  constant  than  any 
other  one  feature  of  structure  in  single  groups.  They 
perhaps  come  nearer  indicating  the  progress  of  the 
bird  than  any  one  set  of  characters.  This  is  likely, 
because  they  are  so  near  the  brain ;  for  whenever  the 
body  loses  an  old  tool  or  acquires  a  new  one,  some 
change  must  be  made  in  the  brain  to  correspond  to 
its  use,  and  this  change  affects  the  skull  and  the  bones 
adjoining  it. 

But  profit  and  loss  among  the  birds  have  not  been 
confined  to  structure  only,  but  habits  also,  as  we  have 
seen,  are  lost  and  gained.  It  may  be  interesting, 
on  this  next-to-the-last  glance  at  the  Story  of  the 
Birds,  to  see  what  such  habits  may  hint  of  history. 

We  have  already  had  some  of  the  habits  that  are 
shaped  by  structure  under  Tools  and  Tasks,  Chapter 
XXIII.  It  is  the  habits  which,  independent  of 
structure,  seem  so  freakish  frequently,  or  rather  it  is 
the  vestiges  of  such  habits  that  we  shall  now  notice. 
The  formation  of  new  habits  is  going  on  among  the 
birds  constantly,  but  only  observation  and  study  from 
day  to  day  can  interpret  these. 

We  saw  early  that  structure  of  the  embryo  or 
young  may  indicate  phases  through  which  the  race 
has  passed,  as  the  frog's  young  are  fishlike,  etc.  So 
likewise  there  may  be  a  sort  of  embryology  of  habit. 
If  we  find  a  young  bird  exhibiting  a  peculiar  habit 
not  practiced  when  old,  we  are  led  to  believe  that 
some  adult  ancestors  once  practiced  this  regularly,  or 
that  some  living  (and  usually  lower)  relation  does  so 


PROFIT  AND  LOSS  IN  THE   BIRDS.  197 

yet.  While  indications  of  this  sort  are  not  by  any 
means  always  reliable,  they  are  often  probable,  and 
are  valuable  in  confirming  other  indications.  Fre- 
quently they  can  be  verified  in  some  lower  group  or 
in  some  near  relations. 

Thus  little  water  ousels,  when  chased  before  they 
can  fly,  run  and  dodge  about,  but  make  no  attempt  to 
dive,  although  an  old  one,  slightly  wing-wounded, 
will  dive  at  once  to  escape.  Now,  when  we  recall 
that  this  little  bird's  ancestry  among  the  wrens  and 
thrushes  is  not  at  all  aquatic,  his  dry-land  tactics  will 
be  better  understood.  Only  recently  has  his  tribe 
taken  to  water. 

Something  similar  appears  among  the  grebes, 
which  have  kinsfolk  landward.  Sometimes,  as  al- 
ready mentioned,  the  little  ones  crawl  upon  the 
mother's  back,  and  she  swims  away  from  danger  with 
them,  and,  if  pressed,  puts  her  wings  above  them 
&&&.  forces  them  to  dive.  Now  they  can  dive  as  well, 
or  better,  than  she,  but  it  seems  strange  that  they 
have  not  yet  the  instinct  to  do  it  at  once  at  the  dan- 
ger signal,  bat  prefer  to  scatter  and  hide  in  the  reeds 
and  grass,  like  their  landward  cousins,  the  fowl  forms. 
See  diagram  of  kinships  in  the  next  chapter. 

In  this  diagram  it  will  be  noted  that  the  hoactzin 
stands  as  a  connecting  link  between  some  fowl  forms 
on  one  side  and  the  gallinules,  leading  to  some  very 
aquatic  kinsfolks,  on  the  other.  There  is  a  little  habit 
that  hints  that  their  ancestors  were  once  more  aquatic, 
for,  while  the  adult  birds  avoid  the  water,  they  build 
their  nests  over  it ;  and  should  the  young,  in  trying 


198  THE   STORY   OP   THE   BIRDS. 

to  escape,  drop  into  it,  they  both  swim  and  dive  read- 
ily. Another  hint  here :  As  noted,  these  young  ho- 
actzins  crawl  on  bushes  by  wing  claws ;  some  galli- 
nules  do  the  same  when  young,  and  very  young 
grebes,  Prof.  Newton  notes,  move  as  if  crawling  on 
"  all  fours."  Recalling  the  swimming  of  some  pen- 
guins by  alternate  strokes  of  the  wings,  already  men- 
tioned, you  may  see  that  this  little  strain  of  habit 
runs  well  down  the  line  of  divers  on  the  diagram. 

But  interesting  vestiges  or  faint  exhibitions  of 
habits,  which  also  hint  of  history  or  relationship, 
may  crop  out  even  in  adult  birds.  The  impression  is 
prevailing  now  that  geese,  ducks,  swans,  etc.,  may 
find  their  ancestry  among  the  grebes  and  loons,  or 
near  them.  Now,  here  runs  the  habit  of  covering  the 
eggs  in  the  nest.  Some  rails — quite  landward — all 
grebes,  and  the  ducks  especially  do  this.  Some  of 
the  latter  use  their  own  down.  Further  on,  the  do- 
mestic goose  simply  picks  up  a  few  straws  and  throws 
them  at  her  eggs  as  she  leaves  them.  Again,  grebes 
build  floating  nests  often,  and  some  rails  on  one  side 
and  some  other  birds  on  the  other  side  do  the  same. 

These  instances  of  hinted  kinship  through  nests 
are  too  numerous  for  our  space.  Often  they  are  quite 
apparent  and  constant  within  the  group.  Thus,  as 
noted,  most  Picarian  birds  use  holes;  all  vireos  or 
greenlets  build  basket-shaped  nests  suspended  at  the 
brim  ;  the  thrushes  like  a  little  plastering ;  the  finches 
want  upholstering,  usually  of  hair  or  very  fine  fibers ; 
the  tits  and  their  cousins,  the  wrrens,  wish  fur  and 
feathers ;  and  the  jays,  a  lining  of  rootlets,  etc. 


PROFIT  AND  LOSS  IN  THE   BIRDS.  199 

In  the  variations  from  these  standard  shapes,  as  in 
the  variations  of  eggs,  a  bird  may  show  its  kinship 
either  onward  or  back.  Thus  the  jays  sometimes  (or 
some  of  them,  rather)  have  a  twiggy  nest,  like  a  crow's 
on  one  side,  or  a  mud-cemented  affair,  like  the  black- 
bird's, on  the  other. 

Often  it  is  only  one  or  two  individual  species  of  a 
group  that  will  vary  toward  a  kindred  group,  and  this 
may  crop  out  on  different  continents.  Our  orioles 
have  been  thought  to  resemble  structurally  the  weaver 
birds ;  and  our  Baltimore  beauty  builds  a  nest  some- 
what similar  to  theirs.  Brown  creepers  and  warblers 
are  faintly  akin.  One  warbler  builds  as  the  creeper — a 
striking  breaking  away  from  the  customs  of  the  family. 
Wrens  and  tits,  of  which  last  the  nuthatch  is  a  mem- 
ber, are  akin,  and  the  warblers  are  near  by.  One 
warbler  runs  on  a  tree  as  a  nuthatch,  and  wrens  may 
be  seen  sometimes  running  similarly — head  downward 
—on  a  tree  trunk.  Some  wrens  build  much  like  the 
tits — in  holes.  We  have  just  noted  the  kinship  of 
wrens  and  water  ousels.  The  strain  runs  by  the  way 
of  the  so-called  water  thrushes,  which  are  really  war- 
blers. Now,  the  ousel  builds  a  domed  nest  near 
water,  one  water  thrush,  called  the  ovenbird,  often 
does  the  same,  and  nearly  every  wren's  nest  is  domed. 

Lastly,  it  is  now  well  known  to  bird  students  that 
crows,  ravens,  jays,  and  magpies  have  a  great  pro- 
pensity to  steal  and  hoard  bright  objects;  that  the 
birds  of  paradise  are  just  crows  in  fine  feathers,  and 
the  umbrella  bird  is  a  crow  dressed  as  a  drum  major. 
In  the  whole  family  is  an  appreciation  of  pretty 


200  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

things.  But  close  akin  to  these  latter  are  the  garden 
and  bower  birds,  already  mentioned  as  ornamenting 
their  bowers  and  love  promenades  with  bright  objects. 
These  use  bright  objects  sensibly,  but  the  magpies, 
etc.,  show  their  kinship  in  the  little  vestige  of  know- 
ing how  to  steal  and  hide  them  only,  but  not  how  to 
use  them. 

We  have  already  seen  how  a  bird's  building  habits 
may  show  something  of  where  it  originated,  whether 
north  or  south. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  every  glance 
out  of  the  window  may  be  interesting,  and  that  every 
vestige  of  either  habit  or  structure  is  like  an  island 
now — a  mere  point  above  the  surface,  which  indicates 
the  isthmus,  long  since  sunken  out  of  sight,  that  once 
lay  perhaps  between  the  two  great  continents  of  Then 
and  Now. 


CHAPTEE  XXX. 


WE  have  already  said  much  of  a  bird's  kinsfolk. 
In  fact,  the  whole  story  of  the  birds,  as  we  have  seen, 
lies  in  their  relationships,  and  how  they  have  branched 
away  from  each  other.  This  last  topic  will  be  a  sort 
of  summary  statement  of  all  that  is  past. 

Here,  then,  is  a  little  diagram  that  may  help  us  to 
see  this  kinship  as  it  now  presents  itself,  taking  all 
the  indications  into  consideration.  It  does  not  follow 
that  this  is  a  scheme  of  classification.  Little,  attempt 
at  order  is  intended,  though  something  of  the  usual 
arrangement  crops  out.  Neither  is  it  intended  to 
imply  always  that  the  upper  group  is  older  than  the 
lower,  but  that  most  of  its  ties  of  kinship  lie  above 
rather  than  below.  In  order  that  the  diagram  may 
be  read  easily,  the  low  forms  are  placed  at  the  top 
and  the  high  forms  at  the  bottom.  But,  of  course, 
development  is  usually  spoken  of  as  being  upward. 
If  we  think  of  the  newer  forms  as  "coming  down 
from  the  past,"  our  diagram  will  be  appropriate. 

The  small  circles  represent  groups  that  are  strik- 
ingly distinguished  from  each  other  in  popular  dis- 
cussion, and  the  question  of  orders,  families,  etc.,  with 

201 


202 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 


'REPTILESV 
I  DINOSAURS 


0 


ARCHAEOPTERYX  Long  Tail  and  Teeth 


Teeih  —  No  Long  Tail 


ICHTHYORNIS 

No  Teeth  below  this 


I'D 


No  Keel 


__pRECpCIAL_ 

"ALTRIOAL  "" 


\   With  KeeL 


1  6     )  HAWKS,  EAGLES,  VULTURES 
BIRDS  OF  PREY 


Picariae 


A   BIRD'S  MODERN  KINSFOLK.  203 

their  interminable  prefixes  of  "  subs  "  and  "  supers," 
and  with  their  refinements  of  subdivisions,  is  omitted. 
The  lines  between  the  circles  represent  ties  of  kinship. 
When  dotted,  the  kinship  is  faint  or  apparent  only. 

The  first  great  circle  represents  the  reptiles  with 
the  birdlike  Dinosaurs  on  the  birdward  margin.  Next 
is  the  Archmopteryx  as  the  earliest  known  branch  from 
the  bird  stem.  Doubtless  other  fossils  nearer  the  rep- 
tiles exist  and  may  be  found  yet. 

Hesperornis  and  Ichthyornis  are  simply  thrown  in 
as  birds  of  a  later  period,  still  having  teeth  but  with 
short  tails.  These  Prof.  Marsh  found  in  Kansas. 
Ichthyornis  was  perhaps  like  a  tern  or  gull,  and  flew 
well  with  a  keel  or  ridge  on  its  breastbone.  Hes- 
perornis was  a  diver,  with  imperfect  wings  and  no 
keel.  While  it  was  not  at  all  ostrichlike,  the  degen- 
erate wings  and  keel  show  that  the  same  general  con- 
ditions affected  it  that  affected  them.  There  are  nu- 
merous other  fossils  in  this  region  and  further  on  that 
we  can  not  note. 

The  members  of  the  Ostrich  group  are  regarded 
as  the  lowest  living  birds,  not  because  they  are  flight- 
less, but  because  their  structure  generally  is  quite  rep- 
tilian. They  early  took  to  running,  developed  large 
legs,  lost  the  use  of  their  wings,  and  quite  likely  their 
keels.  Some  persons  think,  however,  that  they  never 
had  keels.  They  form  the  keelless  division  of  modern 
birds. 

Out  of  these  run  at  least  two  quite  distinct  strains 
of  kinship.  That  to  the  fowl  forms  (line  4-5)  is  by 
the  way  of  the  dry-land  tendency,  passing  through  by 


204  THE   STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

the  peculiar  birds  called  tinamous  ;  and  the  second- 
that  is,  the  rails  (4-8) — runs  through  the  nocturnal 
swamp-haunting  habits  of  the  Apteryx,  already  noted 
under  Chapters' XXII  and  XXIII.  * 

Onward  the  fowl  forms,  including  chickens,  tur- 
keys, guineas,  peafowls,  pheasants,  grouses,  par- 
tridges, quails,  curassows,  brush  turkeys,  etc.,  have 
three  strains  of  kinship  going  out  of  them.  The  first 
and  closest  is  that  toward  the  pigeon  forms,  there 
being  two  birds  which  are  nearly  as  much  one  as  the 
other.  In  fact,  the  sand  grouse  lies  as  a  three-way 
connecting  link  between  these  two  groups  and  the 
plover  forms  (6-9  and  5-9).  Beyond  this  the  pigeons 
have  no  well-marked  kinship.  They  are  the  tip  of 
their  twig. 

There  is  also  a  more  direct  tie  line  (5-9)  between 
fowl  forms  and  plovers.  The  button  quails  of  the 
former  group  form  an  immediate  connecting  link. 

The  third  strain  from  the  fowls  runs  to  the  rail 
forms  via  that  remarkable  bird  the  hoactzin  (5-7-8), 
since  it  is  thought  to  stand  between  the  curassows 
and  the  gallinules.  From  the  hoactzin  runs  a  faint 
line  down  to  the  cuckoos. 

Besides  the  lines  8-4  and  8-7  the  rail  forms  have 
three  other  very  marked  ties.  The  jacanas  are  a  con- 
necting link  between  these  and  the  plovers  (8-9),  and 
the  courlan  or  "  crying  bird  "  between  them  and  the 
cranes  (8-10).  Toward  the  grebes  there  is  also  a 
strong  tie  out  through  the  aquatic  gallinules  (still  in 
the  Rail  group)  and  via  some  very  peculiar  forms 
known  as  finfoots  and  sun-grebes  (8-12). 


A  BIRD'S   MODERN   KINSFOLK.  205 

More  landward  the  plover  forms  show  a  strong 
strain  (9-10)  onward  to  the  crane  forms  via  the  bus- 
tards and  others";  but  more  waterward  (and  it  may 
be  backward)  is  shown  their  remarkable  kinship  to 
the  Gull  group  (9-19).  The  gulls  should  not  be  so 
far  away  as  shown  on  the  diagram,  but  their  other 
affinities  place  them  there.  This  last  kinship  was  over- 
looked for  a  long  time,  and,  as  noted  under  eggs,  is 
said  to  have  been  first  observed  on  account  of  the  re- 
semblance between  the  markings  and  shape  of  the 
eggs  of  the  two  groups.  To  the  student  it  is  now  ap- 
parent from  structure. 

Returning  to  the  cranes,  they  show  a  faint  kinship 
to  herons  (10-15),  but  nothing  like  so  close  as  their 
great  resemblance  in  form  would  imply.  In  fact,  we 
shall  see  that  the  heron  forms  get  their  closest  ties 
from  the  aquatic  side.  It  appears  as  if  herons  came 
from  the  water  to  the  land,  and  cranes  from  the  land 
to  the  water,  and  both  becoming  waders  acquired 
similar  structure  from  similar  habits,  a  case  where  the 
task  influenced  the  tool  again. 

Among  .the  crane  forms  is  found  one  genus  of  re- 
markable birds,  the  seriemas,  that  have  beaks  and 
habits  quite  hawklike,  and  suggest  the  necessity  of 
the  dotted  line  (10-16).  This  group  shows  great  va- 
riation from  its  most  railward  extremes  to  its  most 
heronward  or  hawkward  limit. 

Having  run  these  landward  lines  let  us  now  go  up 
to  the  grebes,  the  only  remaining  route  from  the  rails 
which  we  have  not  followed.  Since  these  and  all  the 
divers  are  very  low  birds,  and  are  always  placed  low- 


206  THE  STORY   OP  THE   BIRDS. 

est  in  all  modern  classifications  (after  the  ostriches), 
it  seems  likely  that  we  should  have  begun  with  them. 
But  starting  at  the  ostriches,  the  kinship  has  led  us 
along  in  this  way. 

Four  arrow  lines  (12,  18,  21,  and  23)  are  drawn 
backward  out  of  each  member  of  the  great  Diver 
group,  to  show  a  rather  probable  kinship  behind  them 
— among  the  fossil  divers — quite  independent  of  the 
tie  ostrichward. 

Grebes  are  akin  to  loons  perhaps  more  closely 
than  their  appearance  shows,  but  their  closest  tie  is 
more  likely  toward  the  rail  forms.  Below  them,  on 
our  diagram,  is  also  a  faint  strain  (12-13)  running  to 
the  goose  forms. 

The  Goose  group  shows  by  its  digestive  system 
that  it  may  have  its  origin  in  the  Great  Beyond  be- 
tween the  grebes  and  loons,  as  indicated  by  the  up- 
ward arrow.  An  arrow  also  runs  toward  the  Fowl 
group,  since,  via  the  screamers,  they  point  that  way 
slightly  also.  To  the  right  (13-20)  there  are  some  in- 
dications of  resemblance  to  the  pelican  forms,  but 
their  closest  relationship  leads  off  via  the  flamingo 
toward  the  Heron  group  (13-14  and  15).  See  the 
notes  about  feeding  methods  (Chapter  XXII),  where 
some  dry-land  members  of  this  great  group  are  men- 
tioned. Some  petrels  also  have  faint  laminated 
(strainerlike)  beaks. 

In  structure  the  flamingo  is  a  connecting  link  be- 
tween goose  forms  and  stork  forms,  but  it  is  closer 
to  the  latter.  In  its  rough  egg  and  some  of  its  struc- 
ture it  is  like  the  pelican  forms  (14-20),  and  in  its 


A  BIRD'S  MODERN  KINSFOLK.  207 

nesting  habits  resembles  some  of  the  petrel  forms  (14- 
22)  slightly. 

Having  come  to  the  heron  forms  by  a  second 
route,  let  us  go  up  to  the  loons  (18)  and  come  again. 

Perhaps  the  loons  are  akin  to  the  penguins  (18-23) 
rather  more  strongly  via  the  auks  (18-21-23)  than 
directly.  The  gull  line  (18-19)  is  fairly  strong. 

Besides  the  ploverward  and  loonward  ties,  gulls 
are  strongly  akin  to  auks  (19-21),  and  faintly  to  the 
pelican  forms  via  the  tropic  bird  in  this  latter  group, 
which  is  quite  gull-like.  A  faint  line,  perhaps  (19-22), 
should  run  to  the  petrels  via  the  sea  runners.  Both 
petrels  and  gulls  are  very  long  winged,  and  stay  in 
the  air  more  than  on  the  water. 

The  affinities  of  the  pelican  forms  have  long  puz- 
zled the  students.  They  do  not  appear  at  a  glance  to 
be  nearly  related  anywhere ;  but  their  structure  sets 
much  more  strongly  along  the  heron-stork  direction 
(20-15)  than  any  other.  That  to  the  flamingoes  is  in 
a  similar  direction.  This  brings  us  again  to  the  Heron 
group. 

Going  up  again,  we  begin  at  the  penguins.  While 
they  are  in  shape  and  habit  something  like  the  other 
divers,  especially  the  auks,  it  has  been  seriously 
doubted  if  they  have  any  near  modern  kinsfolk. 
They  stand  far  apart  in  structure  and  distribution, 
since  they  only,  of  the  divers,  center  around  the 
south  pole.  It  seems  not  improbable  that  if  they 
had  no  keels  they  would  be  placed  below  the  ostrich 
forms — all  things  considered,  though,  the  skeleton  of 
the  ostrich  is  probably  more  reptilian.  Some  auks, 
IT 


208  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

also,  have  become  flightless  by  the  degeneration  of 
the  wings  in  size,  but  not  in  structure. 

The  auks'  strongest  tie  is  that  to  the  gulls  (21-19), 
already  noted ;  but  via  the  sea  runners  in  the  petrel 
forms  a  strain  runs  petrelward  also  (21-22). 

The  petrels,  like  the  penguins,  are  not  closely  con- 
nected, but  tend  to  tie  up  slightly  in  many  directions. 
A  faint  hint  runs  even  to  the  plovers.  In  structure 
of  head  some  petrel  forms  are  like  some  pelican  forms. 
They  also,  as  noted,  have  an  intimation  of  relation- 
ship to  the  heron  forms,  via  the  albatross  and  flamin- 
go, as  noted,  but  this  is  not  to  be  stressed  at  all. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  heron  forms  by  several 
different  sources.  Their  kinship  backward  is  evidently 
strongest  toward  the  goose  forms,  and  next,  perhaps, 
toward  the  Pelican  group.  But  downward  to  the 
birds  of  prey,  via  the  secretary  bird,  is  a  strong  tie 
— so  much  so  that  for  years  this  last  bird  was  thought 
to  be  a  stork  rather  than  a  vulture. 

The  Bird-of-Prey  group,  besides  this  last  noted 
strain,  is  thought  by  some  to  be  akin  to  the  fowls 
(see  arrow  line)  by  the  way  of  the  carrion-eating  vul- 
tures and  the  curassows.  Some  of  the  former  have 
weak  elevated  rear  toes  like  fowls,  and  some  of  the 
latter  have  hooked  beaks  with  their  nostrils  opening- 
through  or  at  the  edge  of  a  skinny  membrane  at  the 
base  of  the  beak,  like  hawks,  etc.  A  similarity  of 
toe-tendon  arrangement  also  exists  between  fowls  and 
some  birds  of  prey. 

The  owls  are  placed  with  the  birds  of  prey  on  ac- 
count of  the  structure  of  bill  and  claws,  but  their 


A  BIRD'S   MODERN   KINSFOLK.  209 

relationship  in  structure  otherwise  is  not  so  close. 
The  osprey  and  owls  each  can  reverse  the  rear  toe, 
and  some  hawks  have  faces  rather  owllike ;  but  many 
students  tend  to  think  that  owls  are  really  closer  akin 
down  toward  the  Picarian  birds  (17-24:  and  17-27), 
than  along  line  17-16  toward  the  hawks. 

Out  of  the  owls  may  run  two  lines,  as  noted  in 
Chapters  XXII  and  XXIII.  The  one  to  the  parrots 
appears  faint  structurally,  but  the  white  egg,  hooked 
beak,  with  skinny  membrane  (the  cere)  at  the  base, 
and  the  reversed  toes  may  justify  line  17-24.  One 
parrot  resembles  the  owls  so  closely  as  to  be  called 
the  "  owl  parrot." 

Parrots  are  not  otherwise  related  strongly,  but 
their  paired  toes  place  them  near  the  cuckoos  and 
woodpeckers  in  the  usual  classification. 

Cuckoos  are  also  quite  apart  from  others  except 
the  plantain  eaters,  but  they  send  back  line  26-24, 
and  take  slight  hold  on  the  fowl  forms  via  the  ho- 
actzin. 

Woodpeckers  have  grouped  around  them  a  lot  of 
other  forms  which  we  shall  not  name.  The  associ- 
ation is  based  largely  on  toe  peculiarities,  but  the 
group  has  an  evident  hint  of  kinship  toward  the  true 
perchers  (arrow  lines  25-30). 

The  other  strain  out  of  the  owls  is  based  upon  re- 
semblance and  nocturnal  and  other  habits,  but  is  not 
so  strong  structurally.  It  is  likely  that  it  is  closer  than 
that  to  the  parrots.  It  runs  into  the  great  Goatsucker 
group  via  some  very  peculiar  birds.  Beyond  the  goat- 
suckers (i.  e.,  whip-poor-wills,  nighthawks,  etc.)  are 


210  THE   STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 

the  swifts,  akin  beyond  further  still  to  the  humming 
birds.  These  latter  stand  on  the  border  of  the  true 
perchers. 

Starting  from  the  swifts,  in  another  direction  are 
the  collies,  leading  toward  the  Kingfisher  group.  This 
kinship  is  not  very  definite. 

The  birds  hereabout  the  kingfishers  are  too  tedious 
and  irregular  in  kinship  for  our  discussion.  The  mot- 
mots  on  our  southern  border  have  toes  like  the  king- 
fisher. Farther  apart  are  the  trogons,  which  are  un- 
like any  other  birds,  in  reversing  the  inner  toe. 

From  somewhere  in  this  chaos  come  the  broadbill 
and  the  lyre  bird  with  striking,  yet  not  perfect  Pas- 
serine qualities.  The  latter  has  song  muscles,  and 
yet  a  down-covered  nestling — a  wonderful  connect- 
ing link. 

The  Passeres,  or  true  perchers,  are  unique  in  hav- 
ing a  single  and  distinct  tendon  to  bend  the  rear  toe, 
and  it  only.  The  humming  birds  are  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  it.  Roughly,  there  are  the  clamatorial  Pas- 
seres,  who  have  not  a  good  singing  syrinx,  and  the 
Oscines,  whose  song  muscles  are  many  and  admirably 
arranged  to  change  pitch  and  volume  in  their  tones. 
Between  these  are  some  gradations,  and  in  the  true 
singers  there  are  some,  like  the  crow,  that  are  not  so 
musical  as  some  low  plovers,  grouses,  and  quails. 
They  either  do  not  care  for  music  or  have  not 
learned  to  sing. 

No  further  attempt  will  be  made  at  noting  kinship 
in  the  families  of  Passeres  than  is  done  in  Chapter 
XXIII,  which  can  be  referred  to.  Some  have  thought 


A  BIRD'S  MODERN  KINSFOLK.  211 

that  the  crow-jay  forms  are  the  highest  birds,  because 
their  brains  and  digestive  systems  show  greatest  per- 
fection. Others  think  the  thrushes  the  highest,  be- 
cause of  the  perfection  of  song  muscles  and  the  scale- 
less  condition  of  the  shank,  already  noted. 

Indeed,  in  looking  over  our  diagram  we  must  not 
be  misled  by  its  order  of  arrangement.  While  the 
fowls,  rails,  plovers,  herons,  gulls,  etc.,  may  each  by 
their  varying  diverging  lines  of  kinship  seem  to  be 
centers  of  development  for  other  groups  around  them, 
we  can  not  always  assert  that  they  are  so.  Nearly  all 
groups  have  yet  in  them  some  very  old  forms.  The 
secretary  bird  in  the  hawks  shows  evidence  of  being 
as  old  as  the  screamer  in  the  geese,  and  as  the  brush 
turkeys  or  curassows  in  the  fowls ;  and  away  up  later 
cuckoos  are  tied  to  a  bird  (the  hoactzin)  so  reptilian  as 
to  crawl  by  claws,  and  yet  have  a  naked  nestling,  while 
the  lyre  bird  with  song  muscles  has  young  that  are 
downy  like  a  precocial  bird's. 

Instead  of  looking  at  the  lines  running  between 
these  little  circles  as  branches  of  a  tree,  we  should 
have  a  better  presentation  if  we  imagined  ourselves 
directly  above  the  tree,  and  that  the  circles  repre- 
sented the  branches  sawed  off  at  different  levels  which 
we  saw  "  end  on."  The  kinship,  then,  would  be  in- 
dicated not  only  by  nearness  of  the  circles  to  each  other, 
and  by  the  tie  lines  between,  but  also  by  the  regions 
on  the  trunk  out  of  which  the  branches  grew.  These, 
of  course,  we  can  not  see.  Thus  the  hawks  (say), 
while  apparently  high,  may  have  their  limb  run  into 
the  trunk  below  the  limb  bearing  the  fowls.  The 


212  THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 

hoactzin  may  be  a  living  twig  from  the  old  stem  that 
started  the  fowl-pigeon-plover-rail  clusters ;  and  an- 
other twig,  sprouting  near  it,  may  have  grown  away 
on  up  to  the  cuckoos. 

To  such  as  will  put  a  bit  of  study  on  matters  of 
this  sort,  the  story  of  the  birds  has  various  interesting 
readings. 

The  broken,  irregular,  single  line  upon  the  diagram 
divides  the  precocial  from  the  altricial  birds.  No.  7 
and  some  forms  between  8  and  12  have  naked  and 
rather  helpless  nestlings.  Except  these  and  the  pi- 
geons, all  birds  above  the  line  E  have  downy  nes- 
tlings, all  below  it  (except  the  lyre  bird)  have  com- 
paratively naked  young. 

The  double  broken  line  touching  the  edge  of  the 
ostrich  forms,  and  passing  through  the  rail-plover- 
crane-heron  forms — leaving  a  few  of  them  dry-land- 
ward— cuts  off  to  themselves  the  aquatic  birds.  It 
may  be  noted  how  nearly  it  corresponds  to  the  other 
line,  as  if  dense  down  had  been  developed  at  the 
promptings  of  the  aquatic  habit. 


CHAPTEE  XXXI. 

AN    INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   BIRD. 

KNOWING  the  bird  by  the  usual  keys  is  often  a 
great  bugbear  to  the  untrained  bird  lover. 

Let  us  see,  if  you  should  have  in  hand  a  bird  be- 
longing anywhere  within  the  United  States,  whether 
you  can  read  this  supplementary  chapter  through  with- 
out knowing  to  which  of  the  groups  on  our  diagram 
your  specimen  belongs. 

The  linear  arrangement  of  the  orders  here  is  that 
of  the  American  Ornithologists'  Union. 

(1)  Ostrich  forms  (Struthiones)  are  known  by  their 
great  size,  or  by  the  small,  flightless  wings  combined 
with  a  nonswimming  foot,  or  by  hairlike  plumage, 
with  the  nostrils  in  the  end  of  the  beak.  All  ostrich 
forms  now  in  the  United  States  have  been  imported 
or  are  reared  from  imported  parents,  and  are  kept  in 
confinement. 

Now,  if  your  bird  is  evidently  aquatic,  with  short 
legs  and  swimming  toes,  begin  at  the  next  paragraph 
(2) ;  if  it  has  long  legs,  bare  above  the  joints  (a  wader, 
evidently),  skip  to  paragraph  (14)  of  this  chapter ;  if 
the  feet  and  legs  are  not  at  all  aquatic,  but  the  feath- 
ers extend  down  to  the  joint,  go  to  paragraph  (21) ; 
if  toes  are  only  two  in  front,  or  if  the  outer  and  middle 

213 


214 


THE  STORY   OP  THE   BIRDS. 


are  grown  together  without  a  web,  go  on  to  (30)  and 
(31) ;  if  shank  is  sharp  in  rear,  toes  unwebbed,  go  at 
once  to  (47). 

(2)  But  if  your  bird  belongs  to  any  group  of  the 
order  of  DIVERS,  its  legs  will  be  set  far  back,  its  toes 
membraned  for  swimming,  its   bill   not   fringed   or 
toothed,  and  it  will  sit  upon  its  tail,  which  is  very  short, 
and  in  the  grebes  absent.     They  are  called  Pygapodes 
because  of  this  sitting  posture  when  they  stand. 

(3)  If  the  wing  is  fiiilike,  its  feathers  scaly,  it  is  a 
PENGUIN.     If  wing  ordinarily  feathered  and  useful, 
but  sometimes  rather  short,  the  bird  may  be — 


a.  Foot  of  a  grebe,    b.  Foot  of  a  loon.    c.  Foot  of  an  auk. 

(4)  First,  with  three  toes   only,  an  AUK  form; 
with  four  toes  it  is, 

(5)  Second,   a    GREBE,  if  toes   are  simply  lobed 
(and  no  tail) ;  and 

(6)  Third,  a  LOON,  if  the  toes  are  webbed. 

(7)  Now,  possibly  the  bird  is  not  as  at  paragraph  (2). 
Its  legs  may  be  a  little  far  back,  but  its  beak  is  fringed, 
or  there  are  other  peculiarities.     So  we  pass  on. 


AN   INTRODUCTION   TO   THE  BIRD. 


215 


(8)  It  may  have  the  nostrils  ordinary  and  the 
beak  with  a  distinct  angle  on  its  lower  edge  (where 
the  taper  starts  toward  the  point  of  the  lower  prong), 
and  webs  between  the  three  front  toes  only.  Or  pos- 
sibly the  lower  prong  of  the  beak  is  much  longer  than 
the  upper.  Then  your  bird  is  one  of  the  GULL  forms. 

Some  other  birds  have  this  style  of  beak,  but  then 
the  nostrils  are  tubular,  or  the  rear  toe  is  webbed  to 


A  foot  and  some  bills  of  the  gull  forms. 

the  inner,  or  there  are  no  useful  webs  at  all  on  the 
foot. 

(9)  If  the  bird  has  tubular  nostrils  and  webbed 
front  toes  it  is  surely  a  PETREL  form.  In  the  last 
two  groups  the  wings  are  very  long. 

For  ducks,  geese,  swans,  and  flamingoes  alone 
have  fringed  or  toothed  beaks,  combined  with  webbed 
feet  and  ordinary  nostrils.  If  you  find  a  bird  with 


216 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 


anything  like  a  tooth  or  notches  on  the  beak    and 
unwebbed feet,  go  on  at  once  to  paragraph  (21). 


Bills  and  feet  of  some  petrel  forms. 

(10)  If  your  specimen  has  the  rear  toe  connected 
to  the  second  by  a  complete  web  from  claw  to  claw, 
it  is  one  of  the  PELICAN  forms.  Some  of  the  ducks 

have  lobes  on  the 
rear  toe,  but  they  are 
not  completely  if  at 
all  connected  for- 


Typical foot  of  a  pelican  form. 


ward. 

If  the  bird  has  a 
fringed  or  serrate  bill 
it  is  one  of  the  goose-duck  forms. 

(11)  If  your  gooselike  bird  has  a  straight  bill  (i.  e., 
not  bent  down)  and,  first,  its  neck  longer  than  the 
body,  or  a  naked  (loral)  space  between  the  bill  and 
eye,  it  is  a  SWAN  ;  if  the  neck  is  shorter  than  the 
body  or  the  loral  space  feathered,  it  is  then  a  GOOSE, 


AN  1NTBODUCTION  TO  THE  BIRD.  21 Y 

provided  the  bare  shank  is  longer  than  the  middle 
toe,  not  counting  the  claw ;  and  it  is  a  DUCK  if  the 
shank  is  the  shorter.  Usually  geese  have  the  scales  on 
the  front  lower  end 
of  the  shank,  netlike 
(reticulate)  in  pat- 
tern, and  ducks  have 
the  scales  on  the 
front  of  the  shank 
usually  elon- 
gated cross- 
wise and  in 
not  more  than 
two  rows  (scu- 

tellate}          T^llt    Cringed  (a)  an<^  serrate  (6)  bills  of  the  goose  forms. 

the  tree  ducks  (Dendrocygna,  not  wood  ducks)  are  an 
exception  to  this,  their  shanks  being  reticulate. 

(12)  But  if  the  bill  is  fringed  and  bent  down,  the 
bird  is  a  FLAMINGO.     Its  legs  and  neck  are  unusually 
long,  and  with  us  it  is  found  usually  in  Florida  only. 

If  the  tubular  nostril  appears  without  the  webbed 
foot,  go  on  to  paragraph  (41),  where  some  goatsuckers 
show  a  similar  nose,  like  a  double-barreled  shotgun. 
Sometimes  a  petrel  shows  a  little  fringe  on  its  beak, 
but  its  style  of  nostrils  prevents  any  confusion  with 
the  goose-duck  group. 

(13)  Our  bird  may  not  have  any  of  the  foregoing 
peculiarities.     Then  we  must  see  if  the  legs  are  feath- 
ered down  to  the  joint  at  the  upper  end  of  the  shank 
(or  tarsus).     If  so,  we  pass  on  to  paragraph  number 
21,  unless  the  bill  is  soft,  long,  and  slim,  for  prob- 


218 


THE  STORY  OP  THE  BIRDS. 


ing  in  the  mud — the  woodcock  forming  a  single  ex- 
ception. 

(14)  If  the  legs  are  bare  above  the  joint  or  the 
bill  long,  soft,  and  suited  to  probe  with  (woodcock), 
there  come  in  here  three  great 
groups    to   be    distinguished. 
According    to    our    diagram 
there  are  four,  for  while  the 
cranes   and   rails  are   in  the 
same   order,   their   respective 
kinships  to  other  groups  have 
caused  their  separation  in  our   Q 
scheme. 

By  the 
way,  if  the 
leg  is  just 
noticeably 
bare  above 
the  joint 

and  the  outer  and  middle  toes  grown  together  half- 
way, pass  on  to  the  kingfishers  at  paragraph  (38). 

(15)  Now,  if 
there  is  a  distinct 
naked  space  (not 
even  growing  any 
hairlike  feathers) 
running  around 
the  eye  or  between 
the  eye  and  bill 
(lores),  or  if  the  legs  are  long  and  the  claws  like  hu- 
man nails  (I~bises\  or  if  the  length  of  the  bird  is  more 


Feet  of  ducks  showing  scutellate  fronts  of  shanks. 


Bent  bill  of  flamingo. 


AN  INTRODUCTION   TO  THE  BIRD. 


219 


than  twenty-six  inches  and  the  bill  is  spoon-shaped 
at  the  tip  (or  the  bill  broad  and  boat-shaped),  your 
bird  belongs  to  the  HERON  forms. 


Bills  of  heron  forms  showing  naked  loral  spaces. 

This  naked  space  around  the  eye  characterizes  the 
flamingo,  swans,  and  the  pelican  forms  also — all  rather 
near  relatives  of  the  Heron  group. 

(16)  But  if  none  of  these  last  conditions  prevail, 
and  the  space  between  the  bill  and  eye  is  feathered, 
at  least  with  apparent  hairs,  why,  then — 


Bill  and  head  of  a  crane. 


(17)  If  the  bird  is   over  thirty-six  inches  long, 
it  is  a  CKAKE.     These  usually  have  the  rear  toe  ele- 


220 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 


vated,  and  short,  while  herons,  storks,  bitterns,  etc.,  with 
similar  beaks,  have  rather  long  rear  toes  low  down. 

If,  however,  the  bird  is  less  than  thirty-six  inches 
long,  then— 


Bills  of  some  rails. 


(18)  If  it  has  its  wings  short  and  rounded  at  the 
tip — the  outer  quill  never  so  long  as  the  next  two  or 


Bill  and  foot  of  coot. 


three — and,  combined  with  this,  the  bill  never  soft  at 
the  tip  or  slim  for  probing  like  a  woodcock's,  and 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  BIRD. 


221 


the  front  toes  long  and  slim  without  any  membranes, 
your  bird  is  surely  a  KAIL  proper.  Or  if  there  are 
marginal  membranes  to  the  long  toes  and  a  horny 
shield  upon  the  head  at  the  base  of  the  bill  (see  d  and 
e\  the  bird  is  still  in  the  RAIL  group,  and  is  a  coot  (toe 
membranes  lobed)  or  a  gallinule  (toes  with  straight 
margins).  All  are  skulking  swamp  haunters,  but  the 
last  swim  and  dive  readily,  especially  the  coots. 

(19)  But  if  the  wing  is  long,  narrow,  and  pointed, 
with  the  first  quill  as  long  as  the  next  ones,  or  else 
the  bill  long,  slim,  and  soft-tipped,  or  if  the  foot 
is  membrane  without  any  shield  upon  the  forehead, 
or  if  the  bill  is  spoon-shaped  at  the  tip,  or  is  long, 
keen,  and  bent  down  or  up  (or  one  side  in  one  Old- 


Some  typical  ploverine  bills. 

World  specimen),  and  the  length  is  less  than  twenty- 
six  inches,  you  can  set  your  bird  down  as  one  of  the 
PLOVER  forms. 

In  many  of  these  the  rear  toe  is  wanting,  and  in 
all,  when  present,  it  is  much  elevated.  In  only  one 
real  plover  (not  snipes,  sandpipers,  etc.)  is  there  any 
rear  toe. 

(20)  Now,  if  the  legs  are  feathered  to  the  joints 
and  the  bill  never  like  a  woodcock's,  you  have  left 


222  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

all  waders  and  swimmers  behind,  and  had  better  look 
closely  at  your  specimen.  You  may  find  vestiges  of 
webs  between  the  toes  in  the  fowls  and  birds  of  prey 
especially,  but  other  things  will  show  you  that  the 
bird  is  not  aquatic,  such  as  the  feathered  legs,  just 
mentioned.  From  this  on  webs  are  vestigial  and  not 
considered. 

(21)  Now,  if  the  shank  is  evidently  sharp-edged 
in  the  rear,  or  if  the  hind  claw  be  straight  and  much 
longer  than  the  front  ones,  or  if  the  foot  is  ordinary 
and  there  are  bristles  at  the  gape  combined  with  a 
length  of  rear  toe  and  its  claw  that  is  not  less  than 
that  of  the  inner  toe  and  its  claw,  then  pass  on  to 
paragraph  (44). 

But  if  the  feet  have  two  toes  only  before,  or  the 
outer  and  middle  toes  bound  together  for  halfway ; 
if  the  toes  are  armed  with  terrible  talons  and  have 
warty  pads  under  each  joint ;  if  the  beak  is  strongly 
hooked  in  connection  with  any  toe  peculiarities ;  if 
the  nostrils  open  into  each  other  so  they  may  be  seen 
through  (i.  e.,  perforate),  or  if  they  open  under  soft 
swollen  fleshy  flaps,  or  through  or  at  the  edge  of  a  flat 
(feathered  or  naked)  membrane,  called  a  cere,  stretched 
across  the  beak  at  the  forehead ;  if  the  gape  is  deep 
and  wide,  with  the  bill  short  on  top,  combined  with 
either  a  shank  that  is  round  in  the  rear  or  with  a  hind 
toe  and  claw  whose  combined  length  is  less  than  that 
of  the  inner  toe  and  claw ;  or  if  the  bird  is  small  and 
brilliant,  with  insectlike  flight  or  with  a  beak  like  a 
large  needle,  then  you  may  stop  here. 

(22)  If  the  hind  toe  is  strikingly  elevated  and 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  BIRD.  223 

your  bird  found  well  within  our  borders,  especially 
North,  it  is  apt  to  be  one  of  the  FOWL  forms,  but  not 
necessarily  so  in  Texas.  Some  fowls  or  Gallince  have 
the  hind  toe  down,  and  you  can  not  be  sure  till  you 
see  that  your  bird  has — 

No    fleshy   swollen    flap    over 
the   nostrils  (though   sometimes  a 
soft  membranous  scale);    no  per- 
foration   of    nostrils;     no    sharp- 
curved   toe   talons ;    no   abnormal 
arrangement  of  toes  except  eleva- 
tion of  the  rear ;  no  deep  broad  gape  ;  no  size  under 
five  inches  combined  with  needlelike  bill.    If  all  these 
negatives  prevail,  the  bird  is  a  FOWL  form,  whether 
the  rear  toe  be  up  or  down. 

The  only  fowl  in  the  United  States  with,  rear  toe 
entirely  down  is  the  Texas  guan. 

(23)  If  the  "Gird  has  not  all  the  foregoing  negative 
characteristics  it  may  be  more  easily  distinguished. 

(24)  With  soft  fleshy  flaps  over  the  nostrils  (claws 
ordinary),  it  is  a  PIGEON  form. 

For  fear  you  may  mistake  these  flaps  for  a  cere, 
see  that  the  claws  are  blunt  and  the  nostrils  never 
perforate.  Some  of  our  ground 
doves  are  quite  partridgelike  in  ap- 
pearance, but  their  beaks  are  long, 
narrow,  and  rather  straight  on  top, 
while  those  of  partridges  are  stout. 

•i        ,-,-,-,  ?  -,  Typical  bill  of  the 

short,  broad,  and  much  curved  on         F  pigeons. 
top.      But,   as   noted    in    the    last 
chapter,  the  pigeons  and  fowls  grade  so  imperceptibly 
18 


224:  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

into  each  other  in  some  birds  that  even  dissection  is 
puzzled  to  separate  them. 

(25)  If  the  bill  is  strongly  hooked  and  a  flat,  skin- 
like  membrane  (cere)  is  across  it  on  top  near  the  head, 
your  bird  is  either  a  bird  of  prey  or  a  parrot. 

(26)  If  a  BIED  OF  PEEY,  there  are  never  two  toes 
permanently  in  the  rear,  and  the  claws  tend  to  be  very 


Head  of  vulture.  Head  of  a  hawk. 

sharp  and  curved,  or  else  the  nostrils  are  perforate 
and  head  naked. 

(27)  If  the  head  is  wholly  naked,  nostrils  perfo- 
rate, it  is  a  VULTURE. 

(28)  If  the  head  is  not  wholly  naked,  and  the  eyes 
are  on  the  side  of  the  head,  or  else  the  nostrils  open 
through  the  cere  and  the  outer  toe  does  not  bend 
back  easily  by  the  rear  one,  it  is  a  Hawk  or  EAGLE. 

(29)  If  the  eyes  are  far  forward,  with  a  feathered 
disk  around  each ;  or  the  nostrils  open  at  the  edge  of 
the  cere,  and  the  outer  toe  easily  turns  back  by  the 
rear  one,  the  bird  is  an  OWL. 

One  owl  has  a  hawklike  face,  but  its  nostrils  are 
within  the  cere,  and  has  its  feet  feathered  to  the 
claws,  a  tendency  not  strong  in  the  hawks. 

The  owls  all  have  the  outer  toe  capable  of  turn- 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  BIRD. 


225 


ing  either  front  or  rear  on  the  perch ;   so  also  has 
the  osprey  only  in  the   hawks,  but  it  has   no  disk 


Heads  of  owls. 


about  the  eye,  which  is  well  on  the  side  of  the  head. 
(30)  But,  referring  again  to  (25) — 
If  with  this  hooked  beak  (the  cere  is  often  f eath- 


(a)  Foot  of  owl;  (b)  foot  of  hawk. 

ered)  we  find  the  outer  toe  permanently  reversed,  the 
bird  is  a  PARROT. 

(31)  Now,  if  the 
beak  is  not  strongly 
hooked,  as  at  (25),  you 
have  two  classes.  If 
the  toes  are  normal- 
ly arranged,  pass  on 

to  (40).  Head  and  foot  of  parrot. 


226 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 


(32)  But  if  toes  are  either  only  two  in  front,  or 
the  outer  and  middle  are  bound  together,  then — 

First,  if  the  bill  is  long, 
straight,  and  chisel -shaped  ver- 
tically and  the  tail  feathers  are 
pointed  and  stiff,  supporting  the 
bird  on  the  tree  trunk  in  an 
upright  position,  go  to  (39).  If 
not,  you  have  one  of  that  won- 
derful group  of  birds  called  by 
American  ornithologists  the  Coc- 
cyges or  CUCKOO  forms ;  though 
how  a  kingfisher  can  be  a 


Bill  and  foot  of  cuckoo. 


cuckoo  form  you  may  never  see. 
Under  this  head — 

(33)  If  toes  are  only  two  in  front  :— 

(34)  First,  outer  toe  reversed,  bill  smooth-edged 
and  curved  down,  it  is  a  CUCKOO. 

(35)  Second,  if  inner  toe  reversed,  bill  notched 
like  a  saw  (serrate)  on  the  edge,  it  is  a  TEOGON. 

(36)  But  if  three 
toes  are  front,  but 
the  outer  is  bound 

to    the   middle  for     -< 
half   of   its   length, 


3_ 
4- 


then — 

(37)  First,  if  bill  Bill  and  foot  of  kingfisher. 

is  saw-toothed,  MOTMOT. 

(38)  Second,  bill  smooth,  KINGFISHER. 

(39)  Again,  if  (see  32)  the  bill  is  long,  straight, 
and  has  the  tip  thin  and  chisel-shaped  vertically  (a), 


AN  INTRODUCTION   TO  THE   BIRD. 


227 


or  the  tail  feathers  are  pointed  and  stiff  and  the  bird 
sits  upright  on  trunks  usually  or  with  the  direction  of 
the  limb,  it  is  a  WOODPECKER.  Some  of  these  have 
only  one  toe  rear  and  two  front  (5). 

(40)  Referring  to  the  last  part  of  (31),  if  the  toes 
are  not  abnormally  arranged  (i.  e.,  two  only  in  front 


Bill  and  feet  of  woodpeckers. 

or  two  grown  together),  then  all  that  is  left  is  an 
order  known  as  the  Machrochires,  or  long-  (literally 
large-)  handed  birds. 

(41)  If  the  bill  is  wide  and  short,  and  the  gape 
deep  (associated  with  a  rear  toe  much  shorter  than 
the  inner),  it  is — 

(42)  First,    if    tail 
feathers  soft  and  round 
at      tip,      GOATSUCKER 
form. 

(43)  Second,  if  tail 
feathers   stiff   and   spi- 
nous  at  tip,  a  SWIFT. 

(44)  But  if  bill  is 

-,  IT         TI  Typical  head  and  foot  of  goatsucker. 

long    and    slim   like    a 

needle,  the  gape  ordinary,  and  the  bird  very  small, 

with  insectlike  flight,  it  is  a  HUMMING  BIRD. 


228 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 


Goatsuckers  have  the  middle  toe  unusually  long 
and  the  others  short.     Swifts  tend  to  have  the  rear 

__ toe  elevated  and  grasp- 

sidewise. 


ng 


Hum- 


Head  and  tail  feathers  of  a  swift. 


Head  of  humming  bird. 


Head  and  foot  of  a  true  lark. 


ming  birds  have  typical  perching  feet,  and  except  in 
appearance  they  are  not  easily  distinguished  from 
Passeres  by  any  external  trait,  except  that  they  have 

only  six  secondaries, 
while  all  true  per- 
chers  have  more. 

(45)  But  if  none 
of  these  fit  your  bird, 
you  will  find  that  it 
has,  with  a  normal,  unwebbed  foot,  either  a  shank 
sharp  in  the  rear,  the  edge  being  formed  by  the  meet- 
ing of  the  two  smooth  plates  on  the  sides ;  or  else  the 

shank  is  round  in  the 
rear  and  the  hind  toe 
has  a  long  straight  claw 
(true  lark) ;  or  the  shank 
is  round  and  the  bill  is 
rather  short  and  flat- 
tened, with  very  notice- 
able bristles  at  the  cor- 

Broad  beak  and  bristles  of  flycatcher     ners   °f  tne   m°uth,   and 
— a  round  shanked  percher.  Combined    With   this  the 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  BIRD. 


229 


rear  toe  and  claw  are  as  long  as  the  inner  toe  and  its 
claw.     Then  it  is  one  of  the  PASSEEES. 

(46)  If  leg  round  in  rear  and  hind  claw  never  ex- 
ceedingly long  and  straight,  it  is  one  of  the  CLAMA- 
TOEES. 

(47)  If  the  shank  is  sharp  in  the  rear,  or  if  round 
with  the  rear  claw  long  and  straight,  it  is  one  of  the 
OSCINES. 


The  highest  type  of  passerine  foot,  showing 
unbroken  rear  side  plate,  forming  the  sharp 
edge  of  oscine  shank. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

ACQUAINTANCE    WITH    THE    BIRD. 

THE  brief  Story  of  the  Birds  is  done.  You  know 
a  little  of  their  structure,  their  history,  their  pedi- 
grees, costumes,  customs,  and  their  general  develop- 
ment as  science  sees  it  now.  But  to  know  the  aims 
and  purposes  of  the  individual  bird  when  you  meet  it 
—the  acquaintance  with  the  bird  itself — this,  unlike 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  cometh  only  with  much  ob- 
servation. 

It  is  not  meant  that  you  need  know  the  name, 
though  that  is  better  for  the  purpose  of  comparing 
notes  and  reading  bird  literature.  Some  of  the  best 
of  observers,  so  far  as  their  own  pleasure  was  con- 
cerned, have  had  names  of  their  own  for  the  species ; 
but  so  closely  had  they  noted  every  feature  of  color, 
song,  haunt,  and  habit,  that  no  field  ornithologist 
would  have  much  difficulty  in  knowing  the  bird  from 
their  name  or  description. 

Not  every  one  has  opportunities  for  observing  the 
bird,  but  many  that  have  only  see  them.  A  bird  is 
just  a  feathered  biped  to  them,  nothing  more.  Oth- 
ers feel  that  only  in  the  deep  woods  or  long  walks 
should  they  put  on  their  habits  of  Nature  study,  and 

230 


ACQUAINTANCE   WITH  THE  BIRD.  231 

yet,  as  Dr.  Cones  has  well  said  of  the  robin,  the  study 
of  many  birds  may  be  simply  a  turn  of  the  head,  a 
keen,  appreciative  ear,  or  a  quick  eye  at  the  proper 
moment,  all  combined,  of  course,  with  an  abiding 
interest. 

Attention  may  do  much  under  difficulties,  where 
the  field  is  small.  Neither  need  "  physical  disabili- 
ties "  or  the  lack  of  opportunities  of  travel  stand  in 
the  way  if  the  heart  is  right.  One  of  our  most  ob- 
servant field  ornithologists  is  paralyzed  on  one  side ; 
another,  young  and  rising,  has  only  one  arm ;  and  a 
third,  with  an  international  reputation,  is  a  woman, 
hampered  with  skirts  and  a  great  surplus  of  flesh. 

My  study  has  an  octagonal  end  with  three  win- 
dows looking  southeast,  south,  and  southwest  respec- 
tively. They  are  high,  and  the  blinds  are  kept  well 
up  that  the  tree  tops  and  the  sky  may  be  seen.  Within 
the  view  directly  from  my  desk  there  are  (or  have  been) 
a  half  dozen  elms,  a  walnut  tree,  two  Siberian  crabs, 
a  wild  crab,  several  rose  bushes,  an  old  stump,  two 
trellises,  and  a  flat-topped  fence — all  within  fifty  feet. 

By  leaning  a  little  away  from  my  desk  I  can  see 
eastward  many  rather  low  evergreens  (pines),  and, 
towering  high  above  them,  a  honey  locust,  whose 
long,  slim,  bare  limbs  in  early  spring  form  a  favorite 
perch  for  many  observant  migrants. 

On  my  table  stands  on  its  large  end  an  opera  glass 
or  small  field  glass,  with  a  focus  constantly  set  for  this 
view,  and  with  simply  a  paper  cap  (to  exclude  the 
dust)  over  the  eyepiece  end  of  it.  If  it  were  shut 
snugly  in  its  case,  the  bird  might  be  in  another  town- 


232  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

ship  before  the  glass  could  be  got  out  and  focused. 
An  opera  glass  is  rather  better  than  a  field  glass,  be- 
cause the  focus  is  deeper  and  the  field  larger — very 
convenient  qualities  when  the  bird  is  skipping  around. 
Its  defining  powers  should  be  excellent. 

In  the  drawer  of  the  desk  lies  a  notebook.  Par- 
don the  egotism  now  while  we  attempt  to  see  from  it 
what  a  single  point  of  view,  occupied  for  a  few  years 
only,  may  reveal  of  the  Story  of  the  Birds  by  glances 
at  the  proper  time 

THROUGH  THE  WINDOW  PANE. 

For  two  winters  some  of  the  most  interesting  vis- 
itors that  I  had  were  a  pair  of  brown  creepers — rather 
rare  birds  in  the  region.  In  many  rambles  I  have 
seen  but  one  other  elsewhere.  Their  behavior  led  us 
to  think  that  they  were  members  of  the  same  family. 
They  kept  near  each  other,  and  came  and  went  to- 
gether. Their  visits  were  usually  about  a  fortnight 
apart;  they  always  made  almost  exactly  the  same 
round  among  the  elms.  They  began  at  the  bottom 
of  each,  and  ascended  in  rather  crude  spirals,  rarely 
passing  far  into  the  limbs.  When  they  wished  to  re- 
explore  the  bark  they  fluttered  down  again,  never 
backing  as  a  woodpecker  may,  or  running  head  down- 
ward as  a  nuthatch.  I  could  see  with  the  glass  the 
keen  bill  thrust  into  the  deep  corrugations  of  the 
bark  and  note  the  long,  stiffened  tail  feathers  and 
long  rear  claw.  There  was  no  pecking  or  driving  at 
the  tree — just  the  gentlest  sort  of  thrusting  and  the 
closest  inspection.  What  a  wonderful  range  of  focus 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD.  233 

that  eye  has  which  can  see  insect  eggs  a  half  inch 
away  and  distinguish  the  bark  of  an  elm  several  rods 
off! 

The  third  winter  only  one  came.  It  had  a  little 
"  chit "  of  a  call,  and  the  children  wondered  if  it  were 
talking  of  its  absent  mate.  It  took  the  same  trees  in 
the  same  regular  order  that  the  others  had,  and  we 
felt  that  it  was  one  of  the  old  friends.  It  was  re- 
markable to  note  how  much  like  the  tree  bark  the 
backs  of  these  birds  were.  Since  they  are  so  strik- 
ingly color-protected  and  build  their  nests  in  secluded 
places  in  the  deep  woods  and  lay  many  eggs,  it  seems 
strange  that  they  should  be  so  rare. 

Over  the  rough  bark  of  these  same  trees  the  nut- 
hatches frequently  crawl  also.  They  are  little  bluish- 
gray  birds,  with  white  undervests — sometimes  a  little 
soiled.  Their  tails  are  ridiculously  short,  and  never 
touch  the  tree ;  neither  does  the  body,  unless  they  are 
suddenly  affrighted,  when  they  crouch  and  look,  with 
their  beaks  extended,  much  like  a  knot  with  a  broken 
twig  in  it.  I  have  sometimes  put  the  bird  into  this 
attitude  by  clapping  my  hands  loudly  near  the  win- 
dow. It  is  an  impulse  that  seems  to  come  to  the  bird 
before  flight,  especially  if  the  head  should  be  down- 
ward. 

This  bird's  arrival  is  sudden,  and  seems  often  to 
be  distinguished  by  turning  a  somersault  before  alight- 
ing, head  downward,  on  the  tree  trunk,  as  if  he  had 
changed  his  mind  so  suddenly  about  alighting  that  it 
unbalanced  him. 

In  the  woods  this  busybody  is  "  quanking  "  much 


234:  THE  STOftY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

of  the  time,  but  here  he  is  silent,  as  though  he  feared 
that  he  might  interrupt  some  one.  It  is  more  prob- 
able that  he  fears  some  one  might  interrupt  him.  He 
is  very  much  absorbed  in  his  work  when  he  once  gets 
down  to  it,  and  boys  sometimes  slip  up  on  the  other 
side  of  the  tree  and  throw  a  hat  over  him.  He  comes 
much  oftener  than  the  creepers. 

I  once  glanced  out  and  found  two  nuthatches  at 
what  I  then  supposed  was  a  new  habit,  but  I  after- 
ward saw  that  others  had  noted  it  as  an  old  trick  of 
his.  One  spring  day  some  little  gnats  were  engaged 
in  their  little  crazy  love  waltzes  in  the  air,  forming 
little  whirling  clouds,  and  the  birds  left  off  bark- 
probing  and  began  capturing  insects  on  the  wing. 
They  were  awkward  about  it  with  their  short  wings, 
and  had  to  alight  frequently  to  rest.  I  went  out  to 
them,  and  so  absorbed  were  they  that  they  allowed  me 
to  approach  within  a  yard  of  a  limb  that  they  came 
to  rest  upon,  where  they  would  sit  and  pant  till  they 
"caught  their  breath,"  when  they  went  at  it  again. 
They  seemed  fairly  to  revel  in  a  new  diet  and  a  new 
exercise. 

These  are  frequently  accompanied  by  the  tufted 
titmouse  and  the  black-capped  chickadee.  This  is  an 
association  frequently  noted  by  bird  students.  There 
seems  to  be  no  reason  for  it,  except  that  the  birds 
are  all  akin.  The  nuthatch,  however,  seems  very  ex- 
clusive, staying  down  on  the  trunk  while  the  others 
explore  the  small  limbs,  and  frequently  hang  back 
downward  at  the  twig  tips.  Others  have  noticed  the 
kinglets  as  frequently  being  in  this  procession,  but  I 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD. 


235 


have  never  seen  it  thus  in  my  yard.  But  the  titmouse 
and  chickadee  come  so  often  together,  without  the 
others,  that  I  found  the  boys  had  the  impression  that 
the  titmouse  with  the  crest  was  the  male  and  the  black 
cap  was  his  wife.  I  had  to  resort  to  the  books  to  con- 
vince them  otherwise,  my  ornithological  prestige  not 
being  sufficient. 

One  late  winter  and  early  spring  I  was  awakened 
every  morning  by  what  Thoreau  calls  the  "  fee-bee  " 
call  of  the  black-capped  chickadee.  It  came  about 
the  same  time  of  the  clock  from  a  limb  not  ten  feet 
from  my  bed.  -The  tones  are  noted  for  their  purity — 
a  clear,  sweet  sol  mi  of  the  vocal  scale — the  first  note 
highest.  To  my  ear  it  seems  to  be  "  see  bee ! "  I 
studied  this  special  bird,  and  learned  to  know  his  song 
from  others.  On  my  way  down  the  street,  if  I  went 
early,  I  found  him  later 
in  other  back  yards,  sing-  - 
ing  like  a  troubadour  for 
his  breakfast,  announc- 
ing that  he  had  come  for 
the  contents  of  last  even- 
ing's crumb  pan. 

The  tufted  titmouse 
also  has  a  spring  song 
—that  sugary  sap-rising 
call  to  "  Peter  -  peter- 
peter"  to  get  about  his  spiles  and  sugar  troughs. 
He  also  is  fond  of  the  dog  scrap  in  the  back  yard, 
and  steals  it  off  and  hides  it  like  a  jay  sometimes. 
His  resemblance  to  a  small  blue  jay  is  quite  remark - 


Tufted  titmouse.     (Natural  size.) 


236  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

able.  I  would  bind  little  bits  of  meat  skin  to  the 
limbs  for  these  birds,  but  the  blue  jays  would  devour 
them. 

These  last  two  little  birds  are  very  greedy  about 
meat.  In  the  old  days,  when  the  "  smokehouses  "  of 
the  rural  regions  were  of  logs  un  chinked,  these  little 
fellows  dug  into  the  hams  and  middlings,  and  the 
crested  tit  is  especially  known  as  "  meat-eater  "  among 
some  old  Southern  folk  yet. 

To  induce  them  to  build  with  me,  I  put  up 
gourds  with  holes  too  small  for  the  sparrows,  but 
nothing  but  the  house  wrens  ever  used  them.  In  my 
region  the  tits  are  rather  deep-woods  builders. 

Sometimes  the  downy  woodpecker  comes  in  this 
crowd — but  of tener  alone.  He  is  especially  fond  of  a 
bone.  The  dog  likes  to  gnaw  his  under  the  window, 
so  that  he  can  watch  that  his  master  does  not  go  out 
without  him.  Here  he  may  leave  it,  and  the  little 
bird  will  steal  up  to  it,  rarely  flying  directly,  but 
jumping  awkwardly  along  the  ground  from  a  near 
tree.  It  is  pitiable  to  note  his  anxiety  and  fear  along 
with  his  enjoyment.  ]STo  matter  how  good  it  tastes 
he  must  leave  it  occasionally,  fly  to  the  tree,  and 
sneeze  up  his  courage  awhile.  This  on-the-ground 
business  seems  queer  to  him,  and  he  is  not  comfort- 
able unless  his  claws  grasp  the  bark  occasionally. 
Then  he  creeps  to  the  bone  again,  sneezing  at  me 
to  see  if  I  am  dangerous. 

His  larger  cousin,  the  hairy  woodpecker,  comes 
not  so  often  now  as  formerly,  when  the  Siberian 
crabs  had  so  many  grubs  in  them. 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD.  237 

One  of  the  trees  died  in  spite  of  his  diligence,  but 
he  has  cleaned  the  grubs  out  of  the  others.  He 
would  work  hard  on  the  far  side  from  me  (which 
happened  to  be  the  grub  side),  and  would  throw  one 
eye  around  every  second  or  so  to  watch  the  great  ogre 
with  tubular  eyes  that  sat  in  the  glass  cage  there. 
How  I  wished  I  could  say  to  him  that  it  was  all  right, 
and  that  I  was  grateful  for  his  services  ;  but  my  si- 
lence was  my  best  greeting.  If  I  could  not  save  him 
from  the  labor  of  eating  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his 
face,  I  wanted  to  relieve  him  from  that  of  getting  his 
grub  in  the  fear  of  his  heart ;  but  I  could  not. 

These  two  little  woodpeckers  are  frequently  mis- 
called "  sapsuckers."  But  they  do  not  eat  sap.  They 
do,  in  plumage,  and  in  a  general  way,  resemble  the 
sapsuckers,  but  the  latter  lacks  the  horny  barbed 
tongue  to  spear  the  grub  with,  and  sips  the  sap  of 
trees  and  does  not  dig  for  grubs.  (See  plate  facing 
page  149.) 

For  a  long  time  I  could  not  see  this  last  bird, 
though  it  left  its  girdlings  on  the  pines  in  the  yard  and 
evidently  passed  me  every  spring.  Many  birds  stun 
themselves  against  my  window  panes — as  if  they  tried 
to  fly  through  the  half  octagon  ;  or  perhaps  they  see 
the  reflection  of  trees  in  the  glass.  The  first  time  I 
ever  saw  this  sapsucker  was  just  after  one  had  stunned 
herself  in  this  way.  I  picked  her  up,  kept  her  all 
day,  when  she  seemed  to  revive.  I  threw  her  up 
late  that  afternoon  and  she  alighted  in  an  elm,  but 
next  morning  she  was  dead,  but  still  clinging  upright 
as  if  alive. 


238 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 


Later  I  have  noted  many  other  individuals  in  my 
yard,  and  have  learned  to  know  their  plumage  mark- 
ings and  their  flight  even. 

The  window  pane  has  shown  me  other  birds  this 
way — a  rare  warbler  now  and  then — and  others  still 
that  my  look  outside  would  not  detect.  The  only 
male  humming  bird  I  ever  saw  on  my  place  was  try- 


Black-throated  blue  warbler.     (Reduced.) 

ing  to  come  in  at  my  window  pane,  but  when  I  arose 
to  let  him  in  he  left.  I  wish  that  I  could  take  to 
myself  the  compliment  that  he  desired  to  visit  me, 
but  I  fear  he  thought  the  reflection  of  his  pretty  self 
was  a  rival,  and  he  wished  to  fight  it.  Female  hum- 
mers come  often,  but  males  are  strikingly  absent. 


The  vireos  come  out  on  the  twig  tip  not  three  yards  from  the  glass. 


ACQUAINTANCE   WITH  THE  BIRD.  239 

Above,  the  vireos  come  out  on  a  twig  tip  not  three 
yards  from  the  glass,  and  "  keep  everlastingly  at  it " 
with  their  warbling.  Once  I  saw  the  cuckoo  on  an 
outer  elm  swing  head  down  to  get  a  caterpillar,  and 
then  fall  with  dangling  feet  and  swing  to  the  larva 
with  his  beak  to  jerk  it  loose.  Then  he  fell  further, 
caught  himself  in  the  air  with  his  wings,  alighted  and 
slung  his  prey  till  he  eviscerated  it  dexterously  and 
then  swallowed  it.  Again,  I  have  had  the  purple 
finch  stop  with  me  and  sing  his  charming  song  to 
his  mate,  and  heard  her  warble  back  in  response — a 
rather  rare  thing  in  birds. 

Referring  again  to  the  kinglets,  they  come  at  a 
certain  early  spring  date  before  the  leaves  are  fully 
expanded,  and  flutter  upward,  while  they  take  some- 
thing from  beneath  the  budding  leaf  or  twig.  It  is 
a  peculiar  motion,  which  with  their  restless  ways,  olive- 
green  color,  and  small  size,  readily  distinguishes  them. 
It  is  rare  that  one  is  still.  But  the  ruby-crowned 
sometimes  favors  me  with  a  song,  and  as  it  is  a  little 
long,  he  usually  is  quiet  till  done.  It  is  one  of  the 
sweetest  little  lullabylike  strains  that  comes  to  me. 
One  day  I  saw  him  in  the  rosebush  just  near  volun- 
tarily expand  the  plumage  of  his  crown  and  show  the 
brilliant  golden -ruby  feathers  beneath.  Usually  they 
are  mostly  concealed.  It  was  a  rare  treat,  and  vis- 
ible to  me  only  because  of  my  rather  exalted  view. 
He  usually  reserves  this  display  for  his  mate,  but  he 
was  here  among  some  snowbirds  and  tree  sparrows, 
and  seemed  to  be  trying  to  make  these  plain  folks 
envious  of  the  pretty  feathers  in  his  hat. 


24:0  THE  STORY   OF   THE   BIRDS. 

Of  course  the  snowbirds  come.  They  like  the 
seeds  of  the  u  wet  weather  "  grass  near  the  window. 
As  they  feed  they  constantly  flit  out  the  white  tail 
feather  as  a  signal,  but  one  rushes  fiercely  at  his  fel- 
low if  he  feeds  too  near.  The  tree  sparrow  also  feeds 
with  them.  This  association  is  perhaps  a  fellow  feel- 
ing because  both  are  so  far  from 
home  now.  I  fall  out  a  little 
with  the  tree  sparrow,  because 
he  does  not  sing  in  the  yard.  In 
the  woods  he  is  musical  at  inter- 
vals all  winter.  Sometimes  in 
Golden-crowned  kinglet,  gprfng  my  glass  shows  the  Oregon 

(Natural  size.)  P.    /  fc 

snowbird  stopping  among  the 
others,  as  he  goes  up  North.  Later  the  snowbird  fair- 
ly giggles  under  the  pines  at  the  prospect  of  his  jour- 
ney ;  and,  taking  his  song  all  around,  it  is  better  than 
none  a  great  deal,  and  is  cheering  because  it  is  always 
a  dirge  to  winter. 

The  number  of  birds  that  come  in  view  depends 
upon  the  weather.  I  often  wonder  where  they  are 
when  not  with  me.  Even  a  walk  on  some  days  will 
scarcely  reveal  a  feather.  I  suspect  that  this  is  as 
largely  a  matter  of  sitting  still  and  keeping  silent  as 
it  is  the  result  of  retiring  to  deeper  cover. 

After  the  blackbirds  come  to  the  yard,  however, 
they  stay,  rain  or  shine.  Six  or  eight  couples  nest 
with  us  regularly,  and,  till  ready  for  business,  they 
perch  on  the  honey  locust,  especially  about  "  retiring 
time,"  and  have  a  sort  of  wheezy  concert.  Then  they 
go  below  and  have  a  little  quarreling  about  upper  and 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD.  241 

lower  berths  in  the  pines.  If  there  is  any  wind  at  all 
they  always  perch  on  the  bleak  twigs  of  the  locust 
with  their  heads  toward  it — true  as  weather  vanes. 
Later  in  the  season  they  walk  the  sward  with  a  lordly 
stride  and  a  dignified  "  chuck,"  very  different  from 
the  undignified  fluffing  up  and  asthmatic  serenade 
that  prevailed  before  pairing.  Later  still  they  choose, 
after  their  young  are  out,  some  one  else's  yard  for  a 
roost,  and  my  gratitude  goes  with  them. 

In  late  summer  the  sward  is  a  favorite  resort 
for  the  young  flickers.  They  dig  into  the  little  ant 
hills.  In  the  spring  one  of  them  is  sure  to  find 
that  the  top  of  the  box  where  the  newsboy  leaves 
the  paper  is  an  excellent  drum  on  which  to  sound 
his  "alarm  to  wake  the  spring  up,"  as  Thoreau 
has  it. 

He  gets  so  engrossed  at  this  that  the  boys  have 
crept  up  by  stages  and  thrown  a  hat  over  him.  Of 
course  with  all  this  racket  he  can  not  hear  footsteps, 
or  see  anything  but  stars,  probably.  Sometimes, 
too,  several  assemble  in  the  elm  near  the  fence,  and 
go  through  their  silly  love  antics.  After  all,  this  is 
better  than  fighting,  but  it  has  always  lessened  my  re- 
spect for  a  bird  that  otherwise  showed  such  dignity 
and  common  sense.  "  Love  makes  fools  of  us  all," 
some  one  says,  but  no  one  beneath  my  window  is  so 
silly  as  the  flicker.  Over  the  fence  is  the  usual  hole 
in  a  decaying  apple  tree  where  a  pair  nest. 

One  April  day,  just  at  dusk,  I  saw  a  flicker  settle 
into  a  crotch  of  an  elm  near  the  fence.  I  went  out 
and  she  was  evidently  intending  to  sleep  there,  but 


242  THE  STORY   OF   THE  BIRDS. 

some  one  passed  and  she  left.  Next  night  she  came 
again,  and  was  there  when  I  left  her.  Next  April 
I  chanced  at  the  same  time  of  day  to  see  the  flash  of 
a  wing  at  the  same  spot.  It  was  the  flicker  again, 
and  by  stealing  around  I  saw  with  the  glass  that  it 
was  a  female.  Was  it  the  same  ?  I  can  only  think 
so.  Perhaps  it  was  on  its  migratory  journey  farther 
North,  and  not  acquainted  with  the  best  (hotels) 
sleeping  places  of  the  region,  else  she  would  more 
likely  have  been  in  some  hole.  But  I  found  her 
sleeping  there  later  through  the  summer.  Many 
flickers  doubtless  roost  in  exposed  places. 

The  jay  is  nearly  always  in  view,  and  I  saw  him 
one  spring  make  the  flicker  almost  ashamed  of  him- 
self, while  he  danced  on  the  ground  before  his  mate. 
His  pirouettes  were  as  graceful  as  those  of  the  aver- 
age dancer,  and  he  always  kept  his  back  with  its  bril- 
liant markings  toward  his  partner.  Like  some  others, 
he  may  have  felt  that  his  strong  points  lay  neither  in 
his  head  nor  his  heart ;  so  he  went  in  strongly  on  his 
feet  and  his  figure. 

I  often  wonder  if  they  are  the  same  that  are 
hatched  in  the  yard.  From  a  certain  suspiciousness 
1  suspect  not.  But  this  is  a  poor  criterion.  Many 
birds,  as  robins,  are  wild  in  winter  and  confiding  in 
summer.  The  little  boy  had  a  pet  jay  one  summer 
which,  when  grown,  escaped  to  his  parents.  I  often 
met  him  out,  when  he  would  whine  back  an  answer 
to  my  call,  and  flutter  his  wings  begging  me  to  come 
and  feed  him,  but  never  suffering  a  near  approach. 
Inasmuch  as  he  left  us  late  in  the  fall  I  suspected 


ACQUAINTANCE   WITH  THE  BIRD.  243 

that  he  migrated ;  and  the  winter  jays  in  my  yard 
may  be  from  farther  North. 

I  like  the  jay  in  the  winter.  He  gets  upon  the 
elm  limbs  and  vigorously  hammers  an  acorn,  or 
takes  a  wild  crab  to  the  fence  top  and  splits  it  for  its 
seeds.  Away  from  the  callow  nestling  and  the  newly 
laid  egg  of  other  birds  he  picks  up  an  honest  living, 
and  is  fairly  respectable — so  much  does  decency  de- 
pend upon  environment.  He  is  rarely  "loud"  in 
winter,  unless  he  finds  a  luckless  screech  owl,  and  he 
wears  his  good  clothes  all  the  year  round.  I  saw  him 
engaged  in  the  walnut  tree  one  day  in  late  summer  in 
a  manner  that  made  me  fear  that  his  bath  had  not 
been  sufficiently  effectual.  He  would  pluck  off  a  leaf, 
lift  his  wing  and  rub  it  into  his  plumage.  I  saw  him 
do  it  repeatedly ;  and  since  walnut  leaves  have  a  pun- 
gent odor  and  are  disagreeable  to  insects,  I  feared  that 
he  had  some  guests  that  he  was  trying  to  get  rid  of. 
If  this  theory  should  be  correct,  here  was  a  case  of  a 
bird  using  perfumes,  with  at  least  good  intentions. 

Seops,  the  screech  owl — much  to  the  discomfort  of 
the  jays — spent  a  summer  with  us  once,  and  in  his 
shuddering  way,  gave  us  several  evening  serenades 
from  the  trellis.  I  suspect  that  he  was  a  bachelor. 
When  winter  came  he  hunted  a  home  in  the  shaft 
ventilating  the  unused  cellar  under  the  woodhouse. 
It  was  smooth  inside  and  he  fell  to  the  basement  be- 
low, where  he  was  found,  evidently  some  weeks  later, 
in  such  a  state  of  fasting  that  his  sins  must  have 
come  up  heavily  before  him.  He  became  the  house- 
hold pet  for  a  while,  but  always  remained  meditative, 


244  THE  STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 

refusing  to  eat  except  at  night,  and  refusing  to  sit  in 
our  laps  unless  his  back  was  stroked.  He  never  grew 
gentle  and  was  set  free.  Next  winter,  either  he  or 
another  like  him,  made  the  mistake  about  the  cellar 
shaft  again.  Both  were  of  the  red  phase,  and  we 
wondered  if  the  second  one  were  the  old  Scops,  with 
a  bad  memory. 

Once  a  mocker  wintered  in  the  yard.  It  was,  per- 
haps, a  female  turned  out  of  a  cage  too  late  to  mi- 
grate. 

Of  course  robins  and  bluebirds  came  about  in 
abundance,  and  a  volume  could  be  written  about  their 
vagaries.  Since  beginning  this  chapter,  I  have  seen 
two  robins  fighting  out  on  or  near  the  fence.  After 
a  struggle  they  each  sat  awhile  on  the  top  plank  and 
rested.  I  admired  the  methodical  manner  of  their 
madness.  There  was  no  bantering  or  strutting  or 
feinting  or  swearing  at  each  other,  or  calling  names 
between  the  rounds.  "When  they  had  got  their  breath 
they  went  at  it  again,  and  rolled  and  tumbled  on  the 
ground  till  one  fled.  The  robin  times  himself  well 
and  impresses  one  as  being  a  success.  Sometimes  I 
play  a  joke  on  him  by  pegging  down  one  end  of  a 
twine  string,  at  which  he  pulls  as  he  flutters  up  with 
it  toward  his  nest.  It  takes  several  attempts  to  con- 
vince him  that  some  one  is  experimenting  with  his 
perseverance. 

I  glanced  out  the  other  direction  once  and  saw  two 
female  bluebirds  fighting.  One  was  our  home  bird 
with  a  nest  in  the  yard,  the  other  was  a  stranger  try- 
ing to  get  the  hole  for  herself  and  husband.  The 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD.  245 

males  fluttered  above  the  battle  with  an  appearance  as 
if  they  were  both  shocked  at  the  performance — always 
musical — for  they  have  no  scolding  note,  and  fight 
singing.  Shortly  the  home  bird  bore  the  other  down 
in  the  watering  trough.  She  got  a  little  damp  her- 
self, but  was  able  to  fly.  Her  mate  followed  her  up 
to  the  home  box  caroling  of  her  prowess.  But  she 
looked  indeed  as  "mad  as  a  wet  hen,"  and  seemed 
to  say  by  her  manner  that  if  he  were  half  a  man 
she  would  not  have  to  do  everything.  I  went  out 
and  took  the  other  female  out  of  the  water  where  she 
was  rapidly  chilling  to  death,  being  too  exhausted  to 
rise.  She  simply  floated,  flapped  her  wings  and  cried 
piteously,  like  her  tribe's  autumn  call.  I  wrapped 
her  in  flannels,  put  her  near  the  kitchen  stove,  and 
she  recovered.  I  have  often  seen  similar  fights  with 
all  four  birds  engaged.  It  is  as  musical  as  an  opera — 
and  has  more  sense  in  it. 

So  the  rose-breasted  grosbeaks  have  come  under 
my  window  to  fight.  They,  too,  are  always  musical 
in  battle,  but  their  crimson  breast  spots  give  the  affair 
quite  a  gory  aspect.  Sometimes  I  am  aware  of  a  bat- 
tle outside  merely  by  the  sound  of  snapping  beaks 
that  come  through  the  open  window.  Usually  the 
jays,  robins,  and  blackbirds,  which  are  much  of  a  size, 
settle  these  matters  between  them  early,  and  live 
peaceably  afterward. 

Of  course,  my  standpoint  shows  me  many  transient 
birds.  For  many  springs  the  olive- backed  thrushes 
have  stopped  over  with  us  for  weeks,  getting  more 
abundant  and  confiding  each  year,  and  breaking  re- 


24:6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

cently  into  song.  At  first  I  could  not  well  identify 
this  bird  through  a  glass.  The  "  distinct  orbital  ring  " 
of  the  books  was  not  so  distinct.  And  the  spots  on 
the  breast  at  one  time  did  not  appear  as  at  another. 
I  did  not  want  to  shoot  one,  so  I  wrote  the  Smithso- 
nian folks  about  their  specimens.  There  was  a  throat 
stripe  that  bothered  me,  and  not  till  I  read  from  Mrs. 
O.  T.  Miller  that  the  spots  on  the  breast  of  the  wood 
thrush  form  a  line  when  the  bird  bunches  itself  for 
sleep,  did  it  flash  upon  me  about  my  olive  backs.  A 
mark  was  a  stripe  or  a  series  of  spots  according  to  the 
position  of  the  bird.  I  subsequently  found  a  flicker 
with  his  mustache  in  spots — like  a  stripling's. 

Through  the  window  pane  I  have  had  under  my 
glass  various  warblers,  and  identified  them  without 
slaughter.  In  the  rosebush  just  beneath  me  I  saw 
the  yellow-crowned  notching  the  leaves — I  know 
not  why,  for  he  did  not  swallow  the  bits — saw  both 
the  eastern  and  western  Maryland  yellowthroat  come 
on  the  same  day ;  and  beneath  this  bush  the  ovenbird 
has  made  his  mincing  steps  once.  The  white-crowned 
sparrows  and  the  Peabody  birds,  or  white-throated 
sparrows,  scratch  beneath  the  one  that  is  farther 
out,  and  the  latter  linger  around  for  weeks,  trying 
to  get  through  with  their  wailing  song  and  rarely 
doing  it. 

The  goldfinches,  the  orioles,  and  others  are  around 
in  season,  but  the  Baltimore  will  not  honor  me  any 
more  with  a  long  nest,  but  builds  a  shallow  cup  above 
me ;  rather,  he  does  honor  me  with  the  shallow  nest, 
for  it  shows  that  he  puts  great  confidence  in  my  pro- 


White-throated  sparrow. 
White-crowned  sparrow. 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD. 


247 


tection.  The  orchard  oriole  prefers  my  neighbor's  or- 
chard just  beyond,  but  feeds  in  my  yard ;  and  last  sum- 
mer, a  little  fellow  that  had  married  without  his  wed- 
ding garment,  brought  the  sole  output  of  the  season — 
a  squabby  cowbird — into  the  wild  crab  to  feed  him.  I 
went  out,  and  as  I  stood  under  the  squab,  and  he  was 
constantly  "  chitting  "  for  more  food,  there  flew  down 
to  him  a  female  cow- 
bird  and  sat  near 
him  and  seemed  in- 
terested in  him.  I 
waited  patiently  to 
see  if  she  would 
break  the  record  by 
feeding  him ;  but  in 
a  few  minutes  she 
flew  off  with  her 

"  glassy  "      Call       (as     Immature  plumage  of  male  orchard  oriole 
i         -•  — all   the   body    yet    yellow,  but    the 

Burroughs     has    so        throat  b]ack 
well  called  it)  after 

her  mates.  I  could  but  wonder  if  the  youngster  was 
hatched  from  her  egg,  and  if  any  maternal  feeling  had 
been  stirred  in  her  breast  by  the  call  of  this  babe  of  her 
own  blood.  It  may  have  been  a  remembrance  only  of 
her  own  babyhood,  for  cowbirds  do  not  have  this  "  chit " 
when  they  are  grown.  Well,  I  was  studying  the  devel- 
opment of  young  birds'  wings  and  wanted  a  specimen, 
and  as  the  life  of  every  cowbird  means  the  death  of 
several  other  little  bird's  equally  useful,  and  these 
young  people  were  being  seriously  imposed  upon,  I 
took  this  orphan  off  their  hands.  Some  birds  I  have 


248  THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 

to  discourage  occasionally — the  sparrows  always ;  and 
when  a  jay  just  lies  around  and  watches  for  the  young 
wren,  he  receives  some  very  warm  suggestions  about 
space  being  better  than  company. 

Over  the  fence — but  we  can't  go  over  the  fence — 
in  this  little  book. 

Of  all  the  little  birds,  he  that  gets  nearest  to  me 
through  the  window  pane  or  elsewhere  is  the  house 
wren.  He  is  a  little  loud,  and  does  not  get  along  well 
with  his  neighbors,  but  I  love  him  for  his  stimulating 
presence  and  his  confidence.  We  have  spoken  else- 
where of  his  greedy  building  habits.  He  soon  took 
possession  of  all  the  gourds  set  for  the  chickadees, 
filled  them  full  of  rubbish,  working  long  sticks  in 
miraculously,  and  singing  all  the  time.  He  fights 
anything — light  weight  or  heavy — jeers  at  every  bird, 
and  trusts  none  of  them.  I  saw  the  pair  utterly  rout 
a  pet  squirrel  that  had  run  up  their  home  tree.  They 
struck  him  repeatedly  on  the  side  of  the  head.  The 
mother  wren  can  find  more  grubs,  worms,  etc.,  to  the 
minute  than  any  hunter  under  my  window.  One  day 
I  saw  her  dig  up  a  very  large  beetle,  and  she  seemed 
to  get  something  from  him,  as  she  rolled  him  over, 
though  she  was  wonderfully  afraid  of  him.  When  I 
went  out  I  saw  under  a  magnifier  that  he  was  infected 
with  spiderlike  parasites,  but  while  rather  large  for 
parasites  my  unaided  eye  did  not  detect  them. 

Working  in  the  garden  one  day  I  found  the  male 
wren  almost  at  my  feet,  and  taking  out  my  opera 
glass  I  saw  that  he  was  spider  hunting.  He  soon 
found  a  large  woolly  one  and  was  quite  afraid  of  it, 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  THE  BIRD.  249 

for  it  threatened  to  run  at  the  bird.  I  never  saw  him 
quite  so  timid  before.  But  he  tiptoed  around  it  and 
put  in  a  stroke  now  and  then,  till  finally  he  was  rising 
high  on  his  legs  and  driving  his  beak  home  fearfully. 
Before  "  the  finish  "  I  interfered,  and  he  walked  only 
a  few  feet  away  as  I  inspected  his  prey.  Then  I 
stuck  a  straw  by  it  and  walked  around  him  that  he 
might  again  renew  the  battle.  But  although  he 
searched  diligently  he  could  not  find  it.  I  was  dis- 
appointed in  his  powers  of  location,  but  I  felt  more 
charitably  toward  him  after  I  myself  had  again 
searched  and  could  not  even  find  the  straw  I  had 
stuck  up.  I  thought  that  his  trill  from  the  apple  tree 
had  a  strain  of  irony  in  it. 

A  few  evenings  later,  just  at  dusk,  as  I  was  push- 
ing the  lawn  mower  under  a  maple,  he  came  and 
nestled  down  into  a  little  basketlike  crotch  just  over 
my  hat,  and,  after  watching  me  a  few  seconds,  put  his 
head  under  his  wing  and  went  to  sleep.  I  got  a  box 
and  mounted  up  with  my  face  not  a  foot  away.  I 
could  easily  have  taken  him  in  my  hand.  Fearing 
that  he  might  be  ill  I  spoke  to  him.  He  raised  his 
head,  looked  into  my  eyes  a  moment,  and  again  put 
his  head  under  his  wing.  I  crept  away  from  him. 
Next  night  I  stole  out  and  again  found  him  in  another 
little  crotch  near  by,  sleeping  so  soundly  that  he  never 
seemed  to  know  that  I  had  looked  in  upon  him,  nor 
that  toward  his  little  feathered  form  my  heart  had 
gone  out  so  warmly. 

Why  should  not  a  man  love  a  bird  ?  If  the  palm 
of  one  should  clasp  the  pinion  of  the  other  there 


250  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 

would  come  together  two  of  the  greatest  implements 
God  and  Nature  have  ever  given  any  creatures  to  ex- 
plore the  world  with  ;  and  when  the  two  bipeds  gaze 
at  each  other  eye  to  eye,  the  intelligence  in  the  one 
might  well  take  off  its  hat  to  the  subtle  instincts  in 
the  other. 


INDEX. 


Acquaintance  with  birds,  230. 

Aftershaft,  28. 

Air  currents,  in  flight,  174. 

Air  sacs,  colored,  46,  140. 

Air  spaces,  not  for  buoyancy,  sup- 
plementing lungs,  20 ;  in  pelican 
forms,  140. 

Albatross,  flight  and  wing,  172,  173. 

Allen,  Grant,  on  origin  of  choice,  48. 

Altricial  birds,  without  down  usu- 
ally, 29  ;  molt  of  wing  quills  of, 
38  ;  affected  by  hatching  heat,  100  ; 
traits  of,  123-125  ;  origin  of  a  de- 
generation, 124  ;  mostly  tree  build- 
ers, 127  ;  outlined  on  diagram,  202. 

Altruism,  52 ;  automatic,  53  ;  invol- 
untary, 57. 

Ambiens  muscle,  157,  193. 

Amphibians,  differ  from  birds,  how, 
3. 

Antelopes,  signal  marks  on,  54  ;  pe- 
culiar weapons  of  some,  60. 

Antics,  as  charming  factors,  45  ;  with 
display  and  choice,  48  ;  chapter  on, 
69  ;  vigor,  69  ;  on  the  wing,  71  ; 
older  than  wing,  77. 

Apteryx  (Kiwi),  with  hairlike  plu- 
mage, 34  ;  smell  of,  75  ;  lays  largest 
egg  relatively,  126  ;  feeding  habits 
of,  137  ;  kinship  of,  138,  204  ;  origin 
of  beak  of,  145,  150  ;  roosting  of, 
155. 

Aquatic  birds,  and  downs,  27  ;  feet 
of,  161  et  seq.;  outline  on  diagram, 
202  ;  near  precocial,  214  ;  diagnosed 
213  et  seq. 


Archceopteryx,  lizardlike,  feathers 
on  legs  and  tail  of,  5,  8  ;  flight  of, 
9 ;  bones  of  wing  free,  10  ;  thumb 
of,  alongside,  10  ;  use  of  claws,  11 ; 
bipedal  motion  of,  15  ;  quills  par- 
tially flossy,  34  ;  leg  of,  167,  202, 
203. 

Arctics,  origin  of  birds  in,  117,  178, 
179. 

Argus  pheasant,  58. 

Asia,  some  birds  from,  187. 

Attention  in  bird  study,  231. 

Audubon,  notes  on  flicker  and  wood- 
pecker battles,  65. 

Auks,  skin  about  bill  of,  45  ;  kinship 
and  aquatic  habits,  139,  207,  208. 

Backbone,  origin  of,  1  ;  in  water,  6  ; 
on  skin,  30. 

Bare  tracts,  22  ;  and  flight,  24 ;  on 
aquatic  birds,  27. 

Barrel  of  feather,  27  ;  once  flat,  33. 

Battle,  indifference  of  female  to,  45  ; 
by  females,  50  ;  in  general,  59. 

Beak  (bill),  lengthened  in  charming 
season,  44  ;  colored,  45  ;  bent  side- 
wise,  47  ;  modified  for  food  taking 
only,  60  ;  of  Apteryx  flexible,  137  ; 
of  snipes,  etc.,  bent  into  a  hook, 
138  ;  fringed  in  ducks,  139  ;  knife- 
like  in  a  gull  form,  140  ;  sac  be- 
neath in  pelican  group,  140  ;  pierc- 
ng  in  waders  and  hooked  in  birds  of 
prey,  141  ;  of  Apteryx,  150  ;  affected 
by  use  and  environment,  145,  146  ; 
of  parrots  hooked,  file  in  roof  of, 


21 


251 


252 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   BIRDS. 


147 ;  of  flycatchers,  broad  and  with 
bristles,  151  ;  of  cowbird  and  bobo- 
link, 151  ;  of  finches,  152  ;  parrots 
sleeping  suspended  by,  158 ;  of 
gulls,  215  ;  with  horny  shield,  221  ; 
notched,  216,  226  ;  chisel-shaped, 
226,  227  ;  cere  on,  223,  224. 

Beauty,  down  the  ages  with  love,  44  ; 
ever  onward,  48  ;  tantalizing,  67  ; 
and  polygamy,  95. 

Bipedal  motion,  15. 

Bird,  forefathers  of,  1  :  definition 
of,  5  ;  flight  of,  before  feathers,  6  ; 
crawling  by  wings  of,  6  ;  tempera- 
ture of,  15  ;  degenerate  plumage  of 
flightless,  24  ;  degeneration  of,  gen- 
erally, 47,  192  et  seq. ;  have  no  pro- 
tective armor,  64,  67  ;  losing  weap- 
ons, 64 ;  various  tones  of,  for 
various  emotions,  83  ;  unmated,  84, 
93  ;  resident,  pairing,  85  ;  long  en. 
gagements  of,  85  ;  spring  bird  wed- 
ding and  housekeeping,  86  ;  incu- 
bation of,  and  pedigree,  96  ;  con- 
stancy to  one  nest  material,  109 ; 
do  not  farm  out  the  baby,  133  ; 
highest  parental  devotion  among, 
134  ;  first  users  of  false  teeth,  136  ; 
how  they  scratch,  137 ;  feeding 
habit  and  pedigree,  153 ;  light 
sleeping,  156 ;  knowledge  gener- 
ally, 186  et  seq.  •  and  weather,  240  ; 
identification  of,  213  et  seq. 

Bird  of  paradise,  a  crow  form,  199. 

Bird  of  prey,  with  all-around  weap- 
ons, 60 ;  a  pair  for  life,  84  ;  feed- 
ing young,  134  ;  kinship  of,  208  ; 
cere  of,  208  ;  and  identification  by 
223,  224. 

Blackbird,  lays  two  kinds  of  eggs, 
119  r  red -winged,  trysting  place  of, 
constant,  82  ;  latter  polygamous, 
95  ;  rookeries  of,  159  ;  nesting  and 
roosting,  240,  241. 

Blood,  hot,  17  ;  cold,  18. 

Bluebird,  fighting,  82,  244;  nesting 
habits,  114 ;  white  egg  of,  118 ; 
feeding  young,  182,  183. 


Bobolink,  wedding  garment  of,  42  ; 
migrating  unpaired,  86  ;  beak 
sparrowlike,  151 ;  distribution  west 
and  return  migration,  186. 

Bob  white,  signal  marks  on,  55  ; 
throat  patch  ornamental,  56  ;  sings 
after  mating,  81  ;  male  caring  for 
young,  88  ;  roosting,  154  ;  roosting 
flight,  159. 

Bones  of  wing  (ill.),  13  ;  why  tubular, 
20  ;  in  albatross,  etc.,  173. 

Bower  bird,  using  bowers  and  bright 
things  in  courtship,  50, 200  ;  a  crow 
form,  200. 

Brain,  relations  to  body  and  skull, 
196. 

Breast,  bare  tracts  on,  22  ;  bare  in 
incubation,  98  ;  touching  perch  in 
roosting,  156,  157. 

Brilliancy,  progressive,  46,  48 ;  of 
fruit  and  sexual  selection,  48  ;  and 
polygamy,  95  ;  rarely  sacrificed.  47. 

Bristles,  degenerate  feathers,  26 ; 
around  beaks  of  flycatchers,  etc. 
(see  illustration  of  whip-poor-will), 
151. 

Broadbill,  210. 

Brown  creeper  and  warblers,  199  ; 
author's  notes  on,  231,  232  ;  pro- 
tective markings,  35. 

Brush  turkey  (see  MEGAPODES)  with 
wing  spurs,  62  ;  hatching  methods, 
99  ;  flight  from  shell,  29,  40,  126  ; 
kinship  of,  204  ;  an  old  type,  211. 

Burnish  of  feathers,  35. 

Burroughs,  John,  note  on  downy 
woodpecker,  85  ;  on  bluebird's 
fighting,  82  ;  on  house-wren  build- 
ing, 111  ;  on  roosting  and  nesting 
places,  157. 

Bustard,  grotesque  antics  of,  70 ; 
kinship  of,  205. 

Butcherbird.    (See  SHRIKE.) 

Cceca,  194. 

Calls  by  color,  53  ;  as  ornament,  56. 
Cardinal  feeding   young  blackbird, 
101. 


INDEX. 


253 


Carotid  arteries,  fused  or  aborted, 
194. 

Cassowary,  after  shaft  on,  28  ;  weap- 
ons of,  61  ;  roosting  humped,  155  ; 
peculiar  molt  of,  42. 

Catbird's  scolding  endowments,  82. 

Caterpillar  eaters,  153  ;  cuckoo  evis- 
cerating, 239. 

Cere,  222  ;  feathered  in  parrots, 
225. 

Chameleon's  toe  peculiarities,  164. 

Chat,  yellow-breasted,  flight  antics 
of,  73. 

Chest  muscles,  13  ;  color  and  char- 
acter of,  172. 

Chewink  (towhee),  song  position, 
80  ;  feeds  scratching,  152. 

Chickadees,  hot  nest,  101  ;  habits, 
114,  234. 

Choice,  of  mates,  origin  of,  48  ;  re- 
finements of,  49  ;  of  nest  material, 
109. 

Clamatores,  229. 

Clasping,  automatic,  156,  157 ;  effect 
of,  on  middle  toe,  166. 

Claws,  on  Archceopteryx,  6,  11  ;  on 
modern  birds,  11  ;  hoactzin  crawl- 
ing by,  11  ;  modified  for  food  tak- 
ing, 141 ;  elongated,  on  cassowary, 
61  ;  on  jacana,  138  ;  on  larks  (ill.), 
228 ;  like  human  nails  in  ibises, 
218. 

Clutch,  188,  189. 

Cock  nests,  111. 

Collies,  kinship,  210. 

Color,  and  molt,  38  ;  slow  acquisi- 
tion of,  40  ;  and  food,  climate,  en- 
vironment, and  vigor,  41,  49  ;  sub- 
stitution of,  46  ;  loss  of,  for  sake 
of  perspective  in  Argus  pheasant, 
48  ;  and  nest,  51  ;  color  calls,  53  ; 
younger  than  weapons,  64  ;  of  egg, 
116 ;  of  egg,  in  oviduct,  118  ;  on 
bird's  eggs  only,  120  ;  ground,  of 
eggs,  120  ;  of  Eastern  and  Western 
birds,  187. 

Columbus  and  bird  routes,  182. 

Condor's  ruche  of  down,  26. 


Connecting  links :  flamingo,  140 ; 
Apteryx,  138  ;  jacana,  138  ;  duck- 
bill, 1,  3,  135  ;  waders,  141  ;  owls, 
150  ;  wren-tits,  152 ;  cowbird  and 
bobolink,  151  ;  hoactzin,  197  ;  sand 
grouse,  204  ;  bustard,  205  ;  sea  run- 
ners, 207  ;  tropic  bird,  207  ;  herons 
and  secretary  bird,  208  ;  collies, 
210. 

Cormorants,  eggs  of,  rough,  118  ;  re- 
gurgitating fish,  131  ;  feeding  hab- 
its, 140. 

Coues,  E.,  on  robin,  231. 

Counting,  188  et  seq. 

Courlan,  kinship  of,  204. 

Courtship,  and  antics,  48  ;  and  song, 
77  et  seq.;  and  ornament,  44-52. 

Cowbirds,  odor  of,  not  destructive, 
75  ;  do  not  marry,  95  ;  parasitic 
in  nesting,  95,  189,  etc.;  bill  and 
feeding,  189  ;  baby  call  sparrow- 
like,  247. 

Cranes,  beak  of,  60  ;  .playing,  70  ;  the 
group's  feeding  habits,  141 ;  kinship 
of,  205  ;  identifying,  219. 

Crests,  and  spring  molt,  38  ;  as  orna- 
ments, 45. 

Crop,  peeling  up  in  pigeons,  131  ;  in- 
flated in  a  sandpiper,  71. 

Crows,  flocking,  56 ;  playing,  69 ; 
omnivorous,  151  ;  crow  form's  love 
of  bright  objects,  199  ;  not  musical, 
210  ;  highest  bird,  211. 

Cuckoos  (European),  mimicry  of 
sparrow  hawk  (ill.),  66  ;  migrat- 
ing before  young,  183  ;  parasitic, 
95  r  (American)  cool  nest  of,  101  ; 
(generally)  peculiar  eggs  of,  118 ; 
paired  toes  and  feeding  habit,  147  ; 
kinship  of,  209  ;  identifying,  226  ; 
eviscerating  caterpillars,  239. 

Curassow,  kinship  of,  204  ;  an  old 
type,  211. 

Darwin,  Charles,  on  color,  21  ;  on 
molt,  37,  38  ;  on  ornaments  of  Ar- 
gus pheasant,  48  ;  on  sex  selection, 
49 ;  on  weapons,  60 ;  on  unmated 


254: 


THE   STORY   OF  THE  BIRDS. 


birds,  93,  94  ;  on  relations  of  bril- 
liancy and  polygamy,  95. 

Degeneration  of  wing,  5,  15  ;  of  fore- 
leg, 6-15 ;  of  wing  in  flightless 
birds,  24,  34  ;  of  feathers,  25,  26, 
36  ;  of  downs,  33  ;  of  nests,  104  ;  of 
internal  organs,  193,  194;  of  fibula, 
167. 

Defense  (see  WEAPONS,  etc.)  by  bad 
odor,  63,  64. 

Dendrocygna,  217. 

Diagnosing  bird,  213  et  seq. 

Diagram  of  kinship,  202  et  seq. 

Dick-cissel  and  nest  material  (ill.), 
109,  110. 

Digestion  tract  and  history,  137,  195. 

Digits,  loss  of,  and  normal  number, 
10. 

Dinosaurs,  bones  of,  20 ;  spurs  on, 
59  ;  relations  to  birds,  202,  203. 

Discrimination  often  poor  in  birds, 
191. 

Display,  with  appreciation  and 
choice,  44,  50  ;  of  plumage  marks, 
46 ;  of  Argus  pheasant,  49  ;  by  fe- 
male, 50 ;  younger  than  weapons, 
64  ;  substituted  for  battle,  65  ;  style 
of,  predicted  from  markings,  71  ; 
of  flicker,  241,  242. 

Divers,  identifying,  214. 

Divine  agency,  145. 

Doves,  wing  whistles  of,  57  ;  varying 
style  of  nest,  103 ;  interrupting 
rival's  song,  82  (see  PIGEONS). 

Downs,  generally  treated,  25  et  seq. ; 
striped  or  mottled,  35  ;  molted  be- 
fore hatching,  126. 

Duckbill,  a  mammal  laying  and  in- 
cubating eggs,  2,  3  ;  suckles  young, 
134. 

Ducks,  mallard's  morals  changed, 
95  ;  carrying  young,  134  ;  feeding 
habits,  139;  bill  and  tongue  fringed, 
145  ;  paddling  water  to  rise,  172  ; 
chest  muscles  of,  173 ;  ancestry 
of,  198  ;  covering  eggs  with  their 
down,  198  ;  identifying,  217  ;  free 
ducks,  217. 


Eagle,  paired  for  life,  89  ;  repairing 
nest  yearly,  115  ;  foot  of  (ill.),  141  ; 
use  of  beak  closed,  142. 

Ear  of  owls,  142. 

Egg,  where  the  large  comes  in,  2 ; 
meaning  of  markings  of,  116  ;  and 
kinship,  119,  206  ;  and  environ- 
ment, 119  ;  hybridism  affecting, 
119  ;  relative  size  of,  125  ;  of  pre- 
cocials  and  altricials,  124  ;  size  of 
yolk  in,  126  ;  transit  down  oviduct, 
118,  126  ;  size  of,  and  number,  126  ; 
size  of,  and  young,  127  ;  dormant, 
127,  189 ;  carried  in  penguin's 
pocket,  171  ;  proper  number  in 
clutch,  188  ;  bird  counting,  189. 

Egg  tooth,  126. 

Embryology  of  bare  tracts,  24  ;  of 
nests,  105  ;  of  habit,  196. 

Emeu,  aftershaft  on,  28. 

Environment  and  downs,  27 ;  and 
molt,  40  ;  and  color,  41  ;  and  mat- 
ing customs,  84,  94  ;  and  nests, 
104 ;  and  eggs,  119  ;  and  new  use 
of  old  tool,  habits,  146. 

Epidermis,  31  ;  shedding,  33  ;  flaked, 
in  penguins,  33,  43  (see  SKIN). 

Escape,  and  clutch  number.  169  ;  of 
ousels  and  grebes,  197  ;  by  shorter 
wing  or  fin,  166,  171,  174  ;  by  skulk- 
ing, 171. 

Europe,  birds  from.  187. 

Exoskeleton  from  the  skin,  31  ;  on 
some  mammals.  32. 

Experience,  179  ;  lack  of,  in  young 
grebes,  197. 

Eye,  colored,  as  ornament,  45,  46  ; 
degenerate,  32  ;  on  side  of  head  in 
hawks,  224  ;  range  of  focus  of,  234. 

Fastidiousness  of  birds,  109. 

Feathers,  from  scale,  8,  24,  25  ;  not 
necessary  to  flight,  14,  17;  but 
shaped  by  it,  14  ;  not  given  for 
buoyancy,  19  ;  but  warmth,  17,  32  ; 
influencing  flight,  33 ;  original 
shape  of,  33 ;  renewals  of,  38,  40  ; 
degenerated  for  ornament,  47  ; 


INDEX. 


255 


feathers  and  song,  77 ;  lining  for 
nests,  198  (see  CRESTS  and  PLUMES). 

Feeding  habits,  of  young,  130  et  seq. ; 
of  adults,  136  et  seq. ;  affected  by 
tool  and  environment,  147. 

Feet,  ornamented.  46  ;  modified  for 
feeding,  138;  of  birds  of  prey, 
141  ;  of  reptiles  and  vultures,  142  ; 
of  osprey,  143  ;  as  rudders  in  pen- 
guins, 170;  identifying  by,  213  et  seq. 

Felting,  113. 

Female,  antics  of,  45,  69,  70,  72 ; 
armed  and  ornamented,  51  ;  colors 
of,  primitive  and  changed  by  nest- 
ing habits,  51,  108  ;  responding  in 
courtship,  70-72;  not  incubating, 
88 ;  building  solely,  88  ;  singing 
after  bereavement,  92. 

Fibula,  degenerate,  167. 

Fieldfare,  158. 

Finches,  beak  lengthened,  44  ;  pur- 
ple, regurgitating,  132  ;  on  border 
of  crow  group,  151  ;  feeding  habits 
of,  151  ;  nest  lining  of,  198. 

Finfoot,  carrying  young,  134  ;  kin- 
ship of,  204. 

Fireflies,  as  nest  ornament,  108  ;  sig- 
nal mates,  27. 

Flamingo,  neck,  beak,  and  feeding 
habits,  139 ;  illustrated  on,  218 ; 
identifying,  217. 

Flapping,  fluttering,  in  sudden  ris- 
ing, 171  ;  shape  of  wing  and,  174, 
175. 

Flesh  eaters,  teeth  and  gizzard  of, 
136. 

Flicker,  rump  spot  on,  55  ;  courting 
antics,  of  70,  72,  85  ;  not  fighting, 
65  ;  regurgitating  for  young,  132  ; 
feeding  on  ground,  149  ;  merging 
of  species,  187 ;  habits,  241,  242  ; 
mustache  in  spots  on,  246, 

Flight,  before  birds,  by  skin,  2 ;  by 
feathers,  3,  14  ;  in  aspirations  of 
lizards,  3 ;  and  weight,  19 ;  and 
bare  tracts,  24  ;  from  moment  of 
hatching,  29, 40, 126  ;  and  feathers, 
34  ;  sounds  of,  as  a  signal,  57  ;  un- 


der water,  139,  153  ;  noiseless  in 
owls,  142  ;  while  eating,  143  ;  and 
wing  shape,  171  ;  soaring,  179 ; 
and  migration,  174  ;  how  effected, 
174,  175. 

Flight  quills,  basis  of  plumage,  19  ; 
shape,  number,  etc.,  175,  176. 

Flycatchers,  crested  habits,  114  ;  va- 
riation of  eggs  of,  119  ;  feeding  and 
bristles  of,  151. 

Flying  lizards,  3,  8. 

Fly  lines,  184. 

Flocking  birds,  and  odor,  75  ;  and 
altruistic  calls  and  marks  of,  53-57. 

Follicles,  28  ;  feather  pockets,  origin 
of,  31  ;  injured  and  twisted  plumes, 
etc.,  41. 

Food,  and  color  of  bird,  41  ;  of  eggs, 
119  ;  and  migration,  177. 

Fossils.  See  Archceopteryx,  Hespe- 
rorm's,  Ichthyornis,  MOAS,  PEN- 
GUINS, etc. 

Fowl  forms,  and  bare  tracts,  23 ;  beak 
of  (ill.),  223. 

Fowls,  sense  of  smell  in,  76 ;  egg 
markings  of  recent.  121 ;  motherly 
care  in,  133  ;  scratching,  137  ;  short 
wings  of,  169  ;  kinship  of,  202,  203  ; 
identifying,  222,  223. 

Fraying  of  feather  tips  and  color,  40, 
42. 

Frogs  (toads),  arboreal,  8  ;  breathing 
by  skin,  18  ;  tadpole  state  of,  hur- 
ried up,  40. 

Fruit  and  sex  selection,  48,  49. 

GallinoB  (fowls),  223. 

Gallinules,  feeding  habits,  139  ;  hab- 
its of  young,  197. 

Gape,  in  feeding,  151  ;  in  identifica- 
tion, 223-228. 

Garden  bird,  use  of  bright  things  in 
charming,  50,  200. 

Geography  and  birds,  186-188. 

Gizzard,  136. 

Glass,  for  observing  birds,  232  ;  nest 
of,  104. 

Gnatcatchers,  ornamenting  nest,  107. 


256 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  BIRDS. 


Goatsuckers,  with  powder  downs, 
26  ;  beak  of,  not  a  weapon,  60  ;  feed- 
ing methods,  150  ;  kinship  of,  209  ; 
nostrils  slightly  tubular,  217  ;  iden- 
tifying, 227. 

Goldfinch  (American),  long  engage- 
ments of,  nest,  etc.,  85. 

Goose,  Canada,  signal  marks  of,  55  ; 
male,  a  devoted  parent,  62,  89 ; 
kinship  by  habit  of  covering  eggs, 
198  ;  the  group  identified,  215  ;  dis- 
tinguished from  ducks,  217,218(ill.). 

Grebes,  eggs,  double-pointed,  122 ; 
mother's  care  of  young  (ill.),  134, 
197  ;  feeding  habits,  139  ;  instinct 
to  hide  and  kinship,  197  ;  crawling 
by  wings,  198  ;  floating  nest  of,  198  ; 
covering  eggs,  198  ;  kinship  of,  202, 
203  ;  identifying,  214. 

Grosbeak,  cool  nest  of,  101  ;  fighting 
musically,  244  ;  singing  responsive- 
ly,  82. 

Ground  color  of  eggs,  origin  of,  120. 

Grouse,  ruffed,  color  of,  35  ;  antics 
(ill.),  70  ;  deserting  mate,  88  ;  col- 
or of  egg  erasable,  118 ;  roosting 
flight  of,  159  ;  sudden  rising  and 
wing  shape,  172. 

Guan,  Texas,  223. 

Guidance  of  migrant,  184,  185. 

Gulf  of  Mexico's  extension  and  bird 
life,  187. 

Gulls,  feeding,  freebooters,  140  ; 
kinship  of,  205  et  seq.  ;  identifying, 
215. 

Habits,  changed,  52,  99,  134  ;  of  near 
species,  95  ;  how  set  up  by  old  tool, 
146  ;  illustrated  by  parrots,  147  ; 
preceding  structure,  153  ;  migra- 
ting of  various  birds,  181;  and  use- 
less organs,  193;  fixed,  are  instincts, 
184  ;  hint  of  history,  196  et  seq. 

Hair  and  horns,  32 ;  removing  epi- 
dermis, 32  et  seq. 

Hare,  why  white  tail  of,  54. 

Hatching,  by  sun,  98,  99  ;  varying 
heat  of,  100  ;  hatching  heat  and 


nest  shape,  102  ;  premature,  126- 
128  ;  egg  tooth  in,  126 ;  in  pen- 
guin's pocket,  171. 

Haunt,  mimicry  of,  35,  38,  47,  56,  87. 

Hawks,  inheriting  downy  nestling, 
29 ;  eggs  of,  losing  color,  119  ; 
nighthawk,  so  called,  150. 

Head,  under  wing  in  sleep,  159,  160, 
249 ;  hidden  by  Apteryx,  155  ; 
naked  in  vultures,  224. 

Heart,  change  of,  2. 

Heligoland  and  migrants,  182. 

Herons,  with  powder  downs,  26 ; 
forms  feeding,  141  ;  kinship,  205- 
208  ;  identifying,  219  ;  nest  a  plat- 
form (ill.),  106. 

Hesperornis  (fossil),  202,  203. 

Hoactzin,  claws  rn  wing,  11  ;  pecul- 
iar roosting  habit,  156,  157  ;  habits 
of  young  and  kinship,  197  ;  kin- 
ship generally,  204  ;  very  old  and 
reptilian,  211,  212. 

Hole  builders,  using  same  hole  again, 
114  ;  have  white  eggs  often,  118  ; 
mostly  altricial,  127  ;  nestling 
naked,  128,  149. 

Homes,  177  ;  homing  instinct,  183. 

Hornbill,  manner  of  feeding  mate 
and  young,  131. 

House  wTren,  rival  males,  92  ;  sham 
nests  of,  111  ;  sleeping  out,  159  ; 
nest,  location,  236  ;  habits  of,  gen- 
erally, 248,  250. 

Hudson's  Bay,  extension  of,  187. 

Hummingbirds,  color  of,  46 ;  ori- 
gin of  splendor,  48  ;  ornamenting 
nest,  107  ;  feeding,  150 ;  identify- 
ing, 227  ;  only  six  secondaries,  228 
(ill.) ;  male  at  window,  238. 

Ibises,  218. 

Ice-cap  and  migration,  178. 

Ichthyornis  (fossil),  202,  203. 

Identification,  various,  213  et  seq. 

Incubation,  in  general,  origin  of,  96 
et  seq.  ;  male's  assistance  and  at- 
tention in,  50,  87,  88  ;  and  migra- 
tion, 100  ;  affecting  crop,  131. 


INDEX. 


257 


Indigo  birds,  song  perch,  80. 
Inflation,   not  known  in  flight,  20  ; 

for  terrifying,  65. 
Inheritance,  of  tastes,  48  ;  of  webs 

not  probable,   186 ;    of  migratory 

routes,  182  ;  miraculous  elements 

in,  186  ;  of  habit,  183. 
Instincts,  social,  54  ;  migratory  not 

infallible,  not  all  explainable,  186  ; 

some,  of  adults  not  yet  acquired  by 

young,  197  ;  very  subtle,  250. 

Jacana,  wings  of,  spurred,  62;  sharp 
edge  of  wing  bone,  63  ;  kinship  of, 
139  ;  claws  elongated,  139. 

Jays,  flocking  for  effect,  188  ;  short 
courtship  of,  85  ;  nest  of  blue  jay. 
101  ;  like  rootlets  as  lining,  kinship 
show  by  it,  199  ;  jay  as  a  winter  as- 
sociate, 242,  243. 

Joints  of  toes,  102,  163. 

Keel,  meaning  of  its  absence,  15. 
Key  to  groups,  214  et  seq. 
Kingbird,  remarriage  of,  90. 
Kingfisher,  solid  downs  on,  27  ;  not 

on  insect-eating,  27  ;  fishing,  150  ; 

kinship    of,    210  ;    identifying    by 

toes,  226. 

Kinglets,  habits  of,  234,  239. 
Kinship,  by  feather  tracts,  22  ;  by 

eggs,  119  ;  by  pointed  eggs,  122  ; 

by  sundry  traits,  150-153  ;  through 

viscera,   137,  206 ;  through    nests, 

198 ;  diagram  of,  and  chapter  on, 

202  et  seq. 
Knob  on  wing,  62. 

Landmarks  in  migrating,  183. 
Lapwing,  white   signal    rump  spot 

(ill),  55. 

Lark  bunting,  song  flight  of,  73. 
Laying,    influenced    or   suppressed, 

127,  189,  190. 
Leg,  converted  into  a  wing,  10,  192  ; 

naked  above  joint  of  waders,  141  ; 

locked  during  sleep,  156  ;  bones  of, 

167  ;  correlations  of  scales  on,  176, 


194,  195  ;  of  geese  and  ducks  (ill.), 
217  ;  feathered  to  joint,  217  ;  bare 
in  kingfisher,  218:  with  shank 
sharp,  222  ;  as  rudder  in  penguins, 
170. 

Lightness  not  necessary  to  flight,  19, 
20. 

Lining  of  nest,  of  goldfinch,  85  ;  a  re- 
cent element,  106,  107  ;  and  color 
of  egg,  116  ;  constancy  and  varia- 
tion of,  117.  . 

Loitering  in  migration,  181. 

Loons,  flight  of,  under  water  and 
feeding  habits,  139  ;  paddling  when 
rising,  172  ;  kinship  of,  207  ;  iden- 
tifying, 214. 

Lores  (space  between  bill  and  eye) 
naked  in  heron  forms  and  kin, 
218. 

Lung,  a  loose  sac,  1 ;  becomes  cellu- 
lar, 2  ;  helped  by  air  spaces,  20. 

Lyre  bird,  degeneration  of  feathers, 
26,  47 ;  kinship  of,  210 ;  downy 
nestling  and  song  muscles  of,  211. 

Machrochires,  227 

Males,  incubating,  50,  87  ;  displaying 
ornaments,  44,  52  (ill.)  ;  feeding  sit- 
ting mate,  87  ;  deserting  sitting 
mate,  88 ;  taking  nest  hole  to 
roost  in,  89 ;  song  of,  after  bereave- 
ment, 92. 

Mammals  differ  from  birds,  how,  3. 

Marriage  (see  PAIRING),  second,  87, 
90,  92  ;  and  environment,  94. 

Marsh  wrens  nesting,  111. 

Marsupial  sac,  134. 

Mates,  for  season,  years,  or  life.  84, 
86,  89,  90,  92  ;  inconstancy  of,  93. 

Meadow  lark,  song  flight  of,  73 ; 
feeding  and  kinship,  151  ;  inter- 
grading  species,  187 ;  and  cow- 
bird,  189. 

Megapodes,  hatched  fit  for  flight,  29, 
40  ;  pass  downy  state  in  egg,  126  ; 
nest  building,  99. 

Migration,  and  plumage,  19  ;  and 
song  and  pairing  in,  86  ;  and  nest 


258 


THE   STORY  OF   THE   BIRDS. 


concealing,  108,  180;  of  bobolink 
west,  186  ;  and  wing  shape  and 
length,  172 ;  a  chapter  on,  177  ; 
theory  of,  178  ;  estimating  time  of, 
191  ;  routes  of,  184  ;  and  Heligo- 
land, 182 ;  and  telescopes,  181  ; 
young  birds  starting  first  in,  183. 

Miller,  Mrs.  O.  T.,  on  bird  spots,  246. 

Mimicry,  35  ;  by  molt,  38  ;  by  orna- 
ment, 47 ;  of  sandpiper,  56 ;  of 
others,  65  (ill.) ;  of  haunt,  87. 

Moas  (fossil),  double-stemmed  feath- 
ers of,  28. 

Mocking  bird,  song  flight  of,  73  ;  win- 
ter in  North,  244. 

Molt,  37-41  ;  and  color,  38  ;  and  re- 
pair, 38. 

Moral  progress,  52  ;  by  conscience, 
65  ;  by  monogamy,  87. 

Motmots,  toes  and  kinship,  210 ; 
identifying  by  notched  bill,  226. 

Muscles,  changed,  10  et  seq.  ;  lost, 
193  ;  ambiens,  157,  193. 

Music  (see  SONG),  77  et  seq.  ;  rivalry 
in,  65  ;  a  march,  78. 

Nature,  looking  ahead.  6  ;  preserv- 
ing energy,  16 ;  shortening  pro- 
cesses, 40  ;  care  of  race,  53  ;  doing 
her  best,  146 ;  compensations  of, 
149,  172,  192. 

Nest  (see  Chapters  XVII  and  XVIII), 
affecting  color  of  female,  51  ;  lo- 
cated region  of,  by  male,  86  ;  built 
by  which  sex,  87,  88  ;  of  mega- 
podes,  99 ;  and  bird,  origin  of, 
102  ;  not  fossil,  but  origin  hinted, 
105  ;  concealing  of,  and  ornamen- 
tation, 107  ;  second,  in  the  season, 
113  ;  repairing  of,  115  ;  site  of,  and 
egg  colors,  121 ;  and  migration,  179, 
180  ;  and  distribution,  179,  180 ; 
floating,  198  ;  of  glass  and  watch 
springs,  104. 

Nestling.    See  YOUNG. 

Newton,  Alfred,  on  grebe's  crawling, 
198. 

Nidicolce,  129. 


Nidifugce,  129. 

Nighthawk,  protective  plume  of,  47  ; 

feeding  of,  150. 
Nostrils,  suppressed,  76,  193  ;  at  end 

of  beak  in  Apteryx,  137  ;  tubular 

in    petrels,    215  ;    in   goatsuckers, 

217  ;  flaps  and  ceres  over,  222,  224  ; 

perforate  in  vultures,  224. 
Nudity  not  used  much  in  birds,  22, 

45. 
Nuthatch,  nest  of,  101  ;  opening  hole, 

how,  150  ;  feeding  awing,  151,  234  ; 

notes  on,  233,  234. 
Nuttall,  note  on  oriole,  93,  95. 

Odor  (see  Chapter  XII),  strong  in  rep- 
tiles and  mammals,  73  ;  incidental 
to  food,  etc.,  74,  75  ;  in  flocking 
birds,  75  ;  voluntary  suppression 
of,  76. 

Oil  gland,  74,  194. 

Oology,  121. 

Orioles,  feeding,  151  ;  nesting,  199  ; 
nest,  changes  in,  246  ;  marrying  in 
baby  clothes  (ill.),  247. 

Ornament,  as  charming,  44  ;  exas- 
perating, 45  ;  as  signaling,  56  ;  by 
shape  and  color  of  feather,  45  ; 
style  of,  changed,  46  ;  not  sacri- 
ficed for  safety,  47  ;  often  flaunted, 
50. 

Ornamenting  nest,  50  ;  bowers  and 
gardens,  50,  200. 

Opossum's  opposable  toe,  164. 

Oscines,  78,  176,  194,  195,  229. 

Osprey,  repairing  nest  annually,  115  ; 
kinship  of,  209. 

Ostrich,  kin  to  reptiles,  15  ;  air 
spaces  in,  20  ;  the  group  without 
bare  tracts,  23  ;  plumes  of  twisted, 
41  ;  method  of  fighting,  63  ;  male's 
care  of  young  and  incubating,  87  ; 
sand  hatching  of,  99  ;  feeding  hab- 
its, 137  ;  kinship  of,  generally,  202, 
203  ;  identifying,  213. 

Ousel  (water),  its  downs,  27  ;  feeding 

'  habits,  153  ;  young  not  diving,  197  ; 
domed  nest  of,  and  kinship,  199. 


INDEX. 


259 


Ovenbird,  nest  domed,  199  ;  mincing 
steps  of,  246. 

Oviduct,  egg  colors  in,  118 ;  egg, 
size  in,  120. 

Owls  (ill.),  17,  225  ;  grotesque  play 
of,  and  pairing,  84  ;  repairing  old 
hawk's  nest,  115  ;  globular  eggs 
of,  121  ;  feeding  habits  of,  142 ; 
kinship  of,  147,  208,  209  ;  identify- 
ing, 224  ;  screech,  a  winter  pet, 
244,  245. 

Pairing  (see  MATES  and  MARRIAGES), 

time  of,  84-86. 
Palmate,  foot,  163. 
Papillae,  clustered,  28  ;  rising  up,  32. 
Parrots,    feeding    and    beak,    147  ; 

sleeping  habits,  158  ;  kinship,  209  ; 

identifying,  225. 
Partridges  (see  QUAIL),  mimicry  of, 

47. 
Passeres,  origin  of,  128  ;  feeding,  151 

et  seq.  ;  destitute  of  ambiens,  157  ; 

grasping  automatic  in  sleep,  157  ; 

squatting   on    roost,   158 ;    typical 

foot  of  (ill.),  161  ;  toe  tendons,  169  ; 

kinship  of,  210  ;   order  of  families, 

211  ;  identifying,  229. 
Patagium  and  muscle,  7. 
Pattern,  35  ;    and  molt,  39  ;    ruling 

all,  43  ;  protecting,  47. 
Peacocks,    ornamented   by   feather 

degeneration,  26,  47. 
Pelican  (forms),  feeding,  140  ;  rear 

toe  webbed  forward,  145  ;  kinship, 

207  ;  identifying,  216. 
Penguins,  with  no  bare  tracts,  23  ; 

inclosed    thumb,   11  ;    fossil,  with 

bare  tracts,  24  ;  shed  epidermis  in 

flakes,  33,  43  ;  flight  under  water 

and  feet  as  rudders,  139,  171  ;  leg 

bones  separate,  167  ;  never  strictly 

terrestrial,    169  ;     alternate    wing 

stroke,  170  ;  pocket  for  egg,   171  ; 

kinship,  207  ;  identifying,  214. 
Perchers.    See  Passeres. 
Perspective  in  ornament,  48. 
Petrels,  ejecting  food  in  defense,  64, 


146 ;  to  feed  young,  131  ;  adult 
feeding  of,  140 ;  kinship  of,  207, 
208  ;  identifying,  215. 

Pewee,  feeding,  151 ;  eggs  of,  119. 
See  FLYCATCHER. 

Pheasant,  Argus,  shaded  spots  on, 
loss  of  color  in,  48 ;  its  display,  49  ; 
more  than  one  leg  spur  in  some,  63. 

Phoebe.    See  PEWEE. 

Picarice,  feather  tracts  of,  22  ;  hole 
builders  largely,  198 ;  regurgita- 
tors,  132  ;  feeding  habits  of,  150 ; 
toe  peculiarities,  22,  150  ;  roost  in 
holes  largely,  157  ;  kinship  of, 
209. 

Pigeons  with  wing  spurs,  62  ;  egg 
shape,  122 ;  regur  gitating  food 
131  ;  not  scratching,  137;  kinship, 
204 ;  nostril  flaps,  223  ;  grading 
into  fowls,  224. 

Pigment,  infusion  of,  during  growth, 
39  ;  range  of,  46  ;  eggs  of,  120. 

Play,  69,  70. 

Plantain  eaters,  147,  209. 

Plovers  (and  plover  forms),  color  • 
calls  on,  55  (ill.) ;  weapons  of,  59  ; 
wing  spurs  of,  62,  63  ;  grotesque 
play  of,  70  ;  males  incubating,  87, 
88 ;  pointed  eggs  of,  122 ;  wing 
shape  of  (ill.),  172  ;  chest  muscles 
of,  173 ;  migration  of,  180 ;  egg 
number,  122 ;  kinship  of  group, 
202-204,  205  ;  identifying,  221. 

Plumage,  and  migration,  19 ;  and 
bare  tracts,  23  ;  once  in  patches, 
24  ;  solid  in  flightless  birds,  24  ; 
down  seems  the  germs  of,  25 ; 
where  degenerate,  26  ;  tells  much 
of  history,  34  ;  and  color,  35  ;  slow 
acquisition  of  complete,  40  ;  ar- 
rangement of,  in  sleep,  155,  159. 

Plume,  37,  38. 

Polygamy,  and  song,  87  ;  and  weap- 
ons, 62,  64  ;  and  fatherly  devotion, 
88  ;  and  brilliancy,  95. 

Powder  downs,  26,  27. 

Precocials,  with  down,  29 ;  molt  of 
wing  quills,  38 ;  heat  affecting 


260 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  BIRDS. 


state  of,  100 ;  traits  of,  123-125  ; 
diagram  of,  202,  212. 

Primaries,  shank,  song,  and  flight, 
and,  176. 

Progress  (see  MORAL),  and  music,  77, 
87  ;  by  monogamy,  89  ;  by  incuba- 
tion, 96  ;  shown  by  eggs  and  nest 
building,  120. 

Protection,  by  mimicry  of  haunt  and 
molt,  38 ;  of  ptarmigans,  37 ;  by 
ornament,  47  ;  by  mimicry  of  oth- 
ers (ill.),  66. 

Protective  armor  not  found  in  birds, 
63. 

Ptarmigan,  molt  protective,  37 ;  scale 
over  eye  ornamental,  45  ;  egg  col- 
ors rubbing  off,  118. 

Pterodactyl  (ill.,  7),  8. 

Purpose,  divine,  145. 

Pygapodes,  214. 

Quails,  mimicry  of  haunt  in,  35 ; 
pointed  eggs  of,  122  ;  roosting  hab- 

-    its,  154  ;  and  flight,  159. 

Quills,  barrels  of,  once  flat,  33 ;  flight, 
influencing  rest  of  feathers,  33  ; 
of  Archceopteryx  flossy,  34 ;  con- 
verted into  spines,  61 ;  on  mam- 
mals, 63. 

Rails,  with  wing  spurs,  62  ;  feeding 
habits  and  kinship,  138 ;  short- 
winged,  170 ;  identifying,  221. 

Rasores,  137. 

Recognition  colors  as  ornamental, 
56. 

Regurgitating  of  food  in  defense,  63, 
64  ;  to  feed  young,  130. 

Rejoicing  differing  from  song,  81. 

Reptiles,  relations  to  birds,  3  ;  bird 
routes  out  from,  15  ;  air  spaces  in 
fossil,  20  ;  feathers  on,  31  ;  incu- 
bating, 96,  97  ;  nest  building,  99, 
105  ;  eggs  uncolored,  120. 

Resting  of  migrants,  182. 

Road  runner,  a  cuckoo,  148. 

Robin,  feather  tracts  on  young,  23 ; 


spots  on  young,  39  ;  many  nesting 
sites,  110  ;  feeding  young,  133 ; 
ubiquity,  231  ;  fighting,  244. 

Rookeries,  159  (ill.). 

Roosting  habits  (Chapter  XXIV),  of 
parrots,  147  ;  of  Western  quails, 
159  ;  roosting  situations  (ill.),  159. 

Routes  of  migration,  184. 

Safety,  sacrificed  to  ornament,  47. 
Saliva  in  building,  113. 
Sand  grouse,  a  connecting  link,  204. 
Sand  martin,  nesting,  114. 
Sandpiper,  teetering,   56 ;   inflating 

crop,  71  (ill.). 
Sapsucker,  237,  238. 
Scales,  not  heat  preserving,  18 ;  ori- 
gin of,  31. 

Scopus,  nest  of,  106. 
Screamers,  no  bare  tracts,  23  ;  wing 

spurs,  62 ;  kinship,  206  ;  old  type, 

211. 

Sea  runner,  kinship  of,  207. 
Second  broods,  127  ;  marriages,  91. 
Secondaries,  number  of,  176,  228. 
Secretary  bird,    kinship    and   wing 

spurs  of,  62,  208  ;  striking  snakes, 

143  ;  an  old  type,  211. 
Selection,  sexual,  47,    49 ;    natural, 

122,  145. 

Semipalmate  foot,  163. 
Sentinels,  156. 
Seriema,  hawrklike,  205. 
Shape  of  egg,  121. 
Sheep  killed  by  parrots,  147. 
Shrikes,  beak  of,  feeding  habits,  and 

kinship,  102. 
Sight,  76,  142. 

Skeleton,  dermal  origin  of,  30,  31. 
Skin,  flight  by,  7,  8  ;  on  front  of  wing, 

7  ;  the  great  builder,  30  ;  in  touch 

with  everything,  31  ;   ornamented 

and  as  ornament,  22,  45  ;  pores  of 

suppressed,  18,  194. 
Skull,  brain  and,  history,  195. 
Sleep,  on  wing,  155  ;   on  water,  156. 

See  ROOSTING. 
Slowness  in  building,  104. 


INDEX. 


261 


Smell,  sense  of,  75  ;  in  vultures,  142. 
See  ODOR. 

Snakes,  incubating,  97  ;  nest  build- 
ing, 105  ;  swallowing  their  young, 
134  ;  eaten  by  birds,  143  ;  degen- 
erated from  lizards,  146. 

Snipe,  antics  of,  71  ;  shape  of  wing 
and  skulking,  172  (.ill.,  173)  ;  feeding 
habits  of,  137,  138. 

Snowbird,  spots  on  young,  39  ;  white 
tail  feather  conceal  d,  56  ;  con- 
sciously flitted,  57,  280. 

Soaring,  wing  for,  173  ;  weight  for, 
19. 

Social  expressions,  various,  56,  57  ; 
habits  in  migration,  181. 

Song,  and  battle,  65,  82  ;  flight  dur- 
ing, 72  ;  came  in  with  the  birds,  77  ; 
and  bipeds,  78  ;  definition  of.  79  ; 
position  during,  80  ;  and  health  or 
vigor,  81  ;  rivalry  in,  82  ;  associa- 
tions of,  83  ;  of  migrants  en  route, 
86  ;  revival  of,  in  summer,  87  ;  and 
polygamy,  87  ;  after  bereavement, 
92  ;  correlations  of  song  muscles, 
primaries,  and  scales,  176,  195. 

Sparrows,  bare  tracts  on,  23  ;  Eng- 
lish, color  of,  by  fraying,  42  ;  and 
color  calls  on,  56  ;  Peabody  and 
white- crowned  (ill.),  246. 

Spoonbill,  141. 

Spots,  and  stripes,  on  young,  39  ;  on 
eggs,  121. 

Spun  glass,  nest  of,  104. 

Spurs,  on  females,  50  ;  on  wing,  61, 
62  ;  on  most  low  bird^  ancestors, 
62  ;  on  leg  in  fowl  forms  only,  63  ; 
the  spur's  limit  upward,  143. 

Steel  nest,  104. 

Step-parents  (Chapter  XV),  90. 

Stomach  lost  in  parasites,  146. 

Sungrebe,  kinship,  204. 

Swan,  male  devoted  to  young,  89  ; 
neck,  139  ;  identifying,  216. 

Swifts,  plumage  tracts,  23  ;  beak  not 
a  weapon,  60  ;  cementing  nest,  113  ; 
feeding  young  on  wing,  133  ;  feed- 
ing generally,  150  ;  toe  tendons  of, 


169  ;  kinship  of,  210  ;  identification 

arid  toes,  227. 
Swimming,  membranes  for,  162  ;  by 

wings,  139,  153  ;  membranes  shed 

by   some  amphibians,   164 ;    birds 

generally,  214-217  ;  toes  lobed,  22  ; 

membranes    vestigial,    222 ;    with 

feet  as  rudders,  170. 
Syndactyle  toes  (see  YOKE  TOES),  162. 
Syrinx,  dawn  of,  77,  210. 

Tail,  bones  of,  long  in  first  birds,  9  ; 
its  use  now  in  flight,  9  ;  feathers 
on,  affecting  plumage,  19  ;  color 
calls  on,  55 ;  feathers  of,  stiff,  199, 
202,  227. 

Talons,  222. 

Teeth,  inherited,  59  ;  lost  and  arti- 
ficial used,  136 ;  notches  in  sea- 
ducks,  139,  202. 

Telescopes  and  migrants,  181. 

Tendons,  of  birds  in  sleep,  156,  157 ; 
of  birds  generally  and  of  lizards, 
168  ;  of  Passer es,  210. 

Terns,  playing,  69,  140. 

Tertiaries,  elongated,  176. 

Thrashers  feeding,  152. 

Thrushes,  endowed  for  scolding,  82, 
83  ;  feeding,  153  ;  with  best  song 
muscles  and  scaleless  shanks,  211  ; 
olive-backed,  ways,  245,  246. 

Thumb,  10,  11. 

Tibia,  167. 

Tmamous,  and  feather  tracts,  downs 
on,  27  ;  kinship,  202-204. 

Titmice,  nesting,  101  ;  notes  on,  235, 
236. 

Toads  (see  FROG),  skin  secretions  pro- 
tective, 63. 

Toes,  of  early  birds.  10;  rear,  wanting 
in  plovers,  138,  221,  222  ;  outer,  ver- 
satile in  owls  and  ospreys,  143  ; 
yoked  (see  YOKE  TOES),  in  cuckoos, 
parrots,  etc.,  147;  rear,  lost,  148, 
167  ;  peculiar  in  Picarice,  151  ;  in- 
ner, reversed,  151,  226  ;  and  armed 
in  cassowary.  61  ;  talk  on  (Chapter 
XXVI),  161 ;  deficient  in  joints,  162  ; 


262 


THE  STORY   OP  THE   BIKDS. 


rear,  opposable  in  some  reptiles, 
164  ;  elevated  in  cranes,  220 ;  in 
fowls  mostly,  222 ;  identifications 
by,  Chapter  XXXI. 

Tongue,  protrudable,  149;  absent,  193. 

Tool  and  task  (Chapter  XXIII),  144. 

Totopalmate  foot  (ill.).  167,  216. 

Toucans,  no  bare  tracts  on,  24. 

Towhee  bunting.    See  CHEWINK. 

Tracts  in  plumage  (ill.),  21,  22. 

Trades  in  birds  building,  112. 

Trees  and  nesting,  106,  107  ;  and  al- 
tricials,  127. 

Tree  haunters,  128  ;  and  number  of 
eggs,  127,  128  ;  ducks  as,  217. 

Triplets,  association  of  birds  in,  93. 

Trogons,  toes  and  kinship,  210  ;  iden- 
tifying, 226. 

Tropic  bird,  a  connecting  link,  207. 

Tropics,  former  home  of  some  birds, 
101,  117,  179. 

Turkeys,  wattles  and  hatred  of  red, 
45  ;  snout,  48  ;  male  kills  young, 
88  ;  roosting  habits,  159. 

Umbrella  bird,  a  crow  form,  199. 

Vestiges,  146. 

Vigor,  choice  and  color,  49  ;  originat- 
ing antics,  69. 

Vireos,  feeding  and  kinship,  152 ; 
counting  cowbird's  eggs,  142  ;  all 
nest  alike,  198  ;  persistent  singing, 
239. 

Vultures,  ejecting  disgusting  food  in 
defense,  64,  146  ;  feet  of  some,  not 
very  grasping,  142  ;  flight,  sight, 
etc.,  142  ;  kinship  by  nostril,  naked 
head,  etc.,  224. 

Waders,  kinship  and  feeding  habits, 
141. 

Wallace  on  color  calls,  56  ;  his  the- 
ory of  egg  markings,  116. 

Warblers  (warbler  forms),  feeding 
and  kinship  of,  152  ;  one  nests  as 
creeper,  199  ;  yellow  -  crowned, 
notching  leaves,  246. 


Water  thrush,  spots  on,  39  ;  nest  of, 
199. 

Wattles,  45  ;  associated  with  wing 
spurs,  63. 

Watch  springs,  nest  of,  104. 

Waxwing  playing,  69. 

Weapons,  generally  (Chapter  XI),  59 ; 
not  ornamented  in  birds,  64  ;  not 
cruel,  but  progressive,  67 ;  and 
number  of  eggs,  127. 

Wedding  garment,  42. 

Weight  needful  in  best  flight,  19, 173. 

Whip-poor-will  (ill.),  battling  by 
voice,  82;  feeding  of,  150.  See 
GOATSUCKERS. 

White,  used  as  a  signal,  54  et  seq.; 
ornamental,  56  ;  of  eggs,  125, 
216. 

White,  of  Selborne,  notes  on  remar- 
riage of  birds,  91  ;  on  roosting  of 
fieldfare,  158. 

"  Whiddah  "  ("  widow  ")  bird  desert- 
ing disgraced  mate,  50. 

Window  pane,  glances  through,  232  ; 
rare  birds  under,  238. 

Wing,  how  developed,  6  ;  claws  on, 
climbing  by,  6  ;  is  a  bird's  (or  liz- 
ard's) foreleg,  10-14 ;  automatic 
folding  of,  its  bones  and  muscles, 
12-14  ;  vestigial  now,  14  ;  affecting 
plumage,  19  ;  often  marked  or  col- 
ored, 55  ;  sounds  as  signals  and 
calls,  57  ;  weapons  on,  61,  62 ;  in 
prey  taking,  143  ;  shaped  for  sud- 
den rising,  166 ;  changes  in,  169  ; 
all  have  been  once  useful  in  flight, 
14,  15,  170  ;  shape  of,  171-175  (ill.). 

Woodcock,  mimicry  of  haunt,  47 ; 
wing  whistles  of,  57  ;  antics  of,  71  ; 
carrying  young,  134,  218. 

Woodpeckers,  tracts  on,  23  :  spots 
on  redhead's  wing,  39 ;  male 
downy  ungallant,  89  ;  use  no  nest 
lining,  113  ;  young  cling  to  sides  of 
cavity,  113 ;  lay  globular  white 
eggs,  121  ;  only  one  regurgitates, 
132  ;  traits  generally,  149  ;  catching 
flies  awing,  151  ;  kinship  of,  209; 


INDEX. 


263 


identifying  by  toes  and  beak,  227  ; 
ways  of  some,  236  et  seq. 

Wrens,  many  sham  nests,  111  ;  nest- 
ing habits,  114  ;  feeding  and  kin- 
ship of,  152  ;  nesting  like  tits  and 
ousels,  199.  See  HOUSE  WREN. 

Wrist  of  birds  unlike  mammals,  14. 

Wrybill,  concealment  of  breast  spot, 
47  ;  beak  bent,  48. 

Wryneck,  feeding  habit  and  kinship, 
149. 

Yellowthroats  (Maryland),  246. 

Young,  rarely  more  brilliant  than 
parent,  46  ;  spots  on,  39  ;  resem- 
bling mother  usually,  51  ;  have 


little  odor,  75  ;  cared  for  by  male, 
87,  88  ;  and  nest,  107,  113  ;  why  two 
kinds  of  (Chapter  XX),  1£3  ;  pre- 
cocial  the  first  condition,  124  ;  their 
degeneration  altricial,  124;  how  fed 
(Chapter  XXI),  130  ;  altricial  need 
food  at  once,  132  ;  carried  by  par- 
ent, 134  ;  faring  like  parent,  136  ; 
altricial  and  cradle,  154  ;  starting 
south  untaught,  183  ;  of  hoactzin 
naked,  211. 

Yoke  toes  of  Picarice,  22,  147,  157  ; 
identifications  by,  226. 

Yolk  of  egg,  125,  126,  130,  209. 

Zygodactyle  toes,  151,  162. 


THE     END. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
TTANDBOOK    OF   BIRDS    OF   EASTERN 

JLJ-  NORTH  AMERICA.  With  Keys  to  the  Species,  Descrip- 
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tion. Treating  of  all  the  birds,  some  five  hundred  and  forty  in.  num- 
ber, which  have  been  found  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  from 
the  Arctic  Ocean  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  By  FRANK  M.  CHAPMAN, 
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of  Natural  History.  With  over  200  Illustrations.  I2mo.  Library 
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OPINIONS  OF  ORNITHOLOGISTS  AND  THE  PRESS. 

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Tribune. 

New  York  :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,   72  Fifth  Avenue. 


c 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

AMP-FIRES  OF  A  NATURALIST.  From  the 
Field  Notes  of  LEWIS  LINDSAY  DYCHE,  A.  M.,  M.  S.,  Professor 
of  Zoology  and  Curator  of  Birds  and  Mammals  in  the  Kansas 
State  University.  The  Story  of  Fourteen  Expeditions  after 
North  American  Mammals.  By  CLARENCE  E.  EDWORDS, 
With  numerous  Illustrations.  I2mo.  Cloth,  $1.50. 


"  It  is  not  always  that  a  professor  of  zoology  is  so  enthusiastic  a  sportsman  as  Prof. 
Dyche.  His  hunting  exploits  are  as  varied  as  those  of  Gordon  Gumming,  for  example, 
in  South  Africa.  His  grizzly  bear  is  as  dangerous  as  the  lion,  and  his  mountain  sheep 
and  goats  more  difficult  to  stalk  and  shoot  than  any  creatures  of  the  torrid  zone.  Evi- 
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Tribune. 

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hunters,  and  the  hardships  cheerfully  undertaken." — Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  The  narrative  is  simple  and  manly  and  full  of  the  freedom  of  forests.  .  .  .  This 
record  of  his  work  ought  to  awaken  the  interest  of  the  generation  growing  up,  if  only 
by  the  contrast  of  his  active  experience  of  the  resources  of  Nature  and  of  savage  life 
with  the  background  of  culture  and  the  environment  of  educational  advantages  that 
are  being  rapidly  formed  for  the  students  of  the  United  States.  Prof.  Dyche  seems, 
from  this  account  of  him,  to  have  thought  no  personal  hardship  or  exertion  wasted  in 
his  attempt  to  collect  facts,  that  the  naturalist  of  the  future  may  be  provided  with  com- 
plete and  verified  ideas  as  to  species  which  will  soon  be  extinct.  This  is  good  work — 
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of  the  book  are  interesting,  and  the  type  is  clear." — New  York  Times. 

"  The  adventures  are  simply  told,  but  some  of  them  are  thrilling  of  necessity,  how- 
ever modestly  the  narrator  does  his  work.  Prof.  Dyche  has  had  about  as  many  expe- 
riences in  the  way  of  hunting  for  science  as  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  mcst  fortunate,  and 
this  recountal  of  them  is  most  interesting.  The  camps  from  which  he  worked  ranged 
from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  Arizona,  and  northwest  to  British  Columbia,  and  in 
every  region  he  was  successful  in  securing  rare  specimens  for  his  museum." — Chicago 
Times. 

"  The  literary  construction  is  refreshing  The  reader  is  carried  into  the  midst  of 
the  very  scenes  of  which  the  author  tells,  not  by  elaborateness  of  description  but  by  the 
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the  companions  with  which  the  book  Ins  provided  him,  for  incident  is  made  to  follow 
incident  with  no  intervening  literary  padding.  In  fact,  the  book  is  all  action." — Kansas 
City  Journal. 

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interest,  but  it  also  has  the  merit  of  scientific  exactness  in  the  descriptions  of  the 
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"But  what  is  most  important  of  all  in  a  narrative  of  this  kind— for  it  seems  to  utf 
that  'Camp-Fires  of  a  Naturalist'  was  written  first  of  all  for  entertainment— these 
notes  neither  have  been  '  dressed  up  '  and  their  accuracy  thereby  impaired,  nor  yet  re> 
tailed  in  a  dry  and  statistical  manner.  The  book,  in  a  word,  is  a  plain  nanative  o; 
adventures  among  the  larger  American  animals."—  Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

"  We  recommend  it  most  heartily  to  old  and  young  alike,  and  suggest  it  as  a  beauti 
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at  the  World's  Fair."— Topeka  Capital. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


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